Finally figured out I was brushing dirt the wrong way at a dig site in Ohio last fall

I spent three whole days brushing perpendicular to the layers before a volunteer pointed out I was smearing the soil stratigraphy. She showed me to brush along the grain instead and the difference was night and day. Anyone else have a basic field technique they got totally backwards at first?

2 comments

2 Comments

faith_schmidt2d ago

Brushing perpendicular to layers got me too. I changed my mind after seeing it.

theagarcia2d agoMost Upvoted

Gah, I feel you on that one! Took me way too long to figure out that going with the layers actually makes everything look way more put together. Now I just do one gentle pass against the grain for volume and then smooth it all down with the direction of the layers.