That dig in Jordan last summer wrecked my trowel technique forever

I was at a Roman fort excavation near Petra back in June. The lead archaeologist watched me scrape for about two minutes and then told me I was using my wrist like a chisel. She showed me how to hinge my arm from the shoulder instead, and suddenly I was getting clean sections with half the effort. Has anyone else had a pro totally rewire their basic field skills on the spot?

2 comments

2 Comments

seanperry13d ago

Wait, I actually think you might have that backwards. Shoulder hinging is for big sweeping cuts like cleaning a baulk or stripping a big area, not for fine trowel work near fragile contexts. For detailed scraping around a feature you want wrist and forearm control. Your shoulder pivot is great for bulk removal but it's way too broad for the kind of precision work you'd do around a Roman wall or a plaster surface.

andrew713d ago

32 years in the field and @seanperry is out here telling me my own method is backwards. Guess I’ll just go back to scraping Roman floors with my whole shoulder like a lumberjack. Next time I’ll bring a backhoe for the fine stuff.