Rant: My old professor called my site drawing 'a messy guess'

Last year I was mapping a dig in Tucson and thought my field sketches were good enough. My professor looked at my grid drawing and said, 'This isn't art class, it's a messy guess at where things are.' I started using a total station for every single point after that, even for small finds. It takes longer but my maps are actually accurate now. Anyone else get called out on their field methods and have to totally change how they work?

3 comments

3 Comments

kevin_sullivan1mo ago

Sounds like your professor gave you some tough but fair advice. Field sketches are important for quick notes, but calling them a messy guess means they weren't clear enough for someone else to use. Switching to the total station for everything seems like an overcorrection though, it must slow you down a lot. There's a middle ground between a fast sketch and surveying every pebble.

parker_foster531mo ago

Exactly. So where's that line for a good enough sketch? Like @kevin_sullivan said, it's a middle ground. My crew lead says a sketch should answer a basic question without needing you there to explain it. If you draw a weird rock, note its size and what it's next to. A messy guess is just a circle labeled "rock". The total station for a single cobble is overkill, but a clear pencil drawing with a scale and a few measurements is forever.

the_jesse1mo ago

Honestly that "middle ground" idea sounds nice but it falls apart in the real field. Kevin_Sullivan says a messy guess isn't clear for someone else, but a rushed sketch with a few notes isn't either, you just think it is. If the goal is a permanent record, then measuring everything with the total station is the only way to be sure. Calling it an overcorrection is just accepting sloppy work. The professor was right to call out bad sketches, and using the right tool for the job, even if it's slower, is how you avoid mistakes. There is no reliable middle ground, just different amounts of wrong.