Practice question · Sort into groups
Sort each technique: non-destructive survey or destructive excavation?
Groups: Non-destructive survey · Destructive excavation
- Test pit through the midden
- Aerial photography at low evening sun
- Magnetometer sweep of the paddock
- Opening a trench across the enclosure ditch
- Total station mapping of surface earthworks
- Field walking a plowed field for surface sherds
Hints
- Ask whether the technique can be repeated on the same ground.
- Anything that opens the site spends it permanently.
Show the answer
Non-destructive survey: Field walking a plowed field for surface sherds, Magnetometer sweep of the paddock, Aerial photography at low evening sun, Total station mapping of surface earthworks
Destructive excavation: Opening a trench across the enclosure ditch, Test pit through the midden
Why
Everything that reads the site without opening it can be repeated; everything that opens it spends it. The modern rule: exhaust the repeatable methods first.
Practise Excavation Methodology
The app has 5 more questions on this lesson, and keeps your place in the course. History I is free to start.
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