Shoutout to my dig site for showing me two sides of archaeology tech

I picked up ground-penetrating radar skills this year. Some folks say new tools find more fast, but old hands think they miss key details. What's your take on tech versus traditional digging?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_logan5d ago

I read about a GPR survey that completely missed a colonial cellar because modern concrete rebar confused the signals. When you're using the radar, how do you decide where to still put in a test trench with a trowel and screen? That old one-meter grid survey feels slow, but it catches everything.

the_julia5d ago

Oh man, my friend had a similar thing happen last year. Her team was doing GPR over what should have been a farmstead, and the radar was a mess from buried irrigation lines. They almost packed up, but she insisted on a few old fashioned shovel tests in a quiet corner. That's how they found the stone lining of a well, totally hidden by the modern noise. She says now she always plans for hand digging in a few random spots, even on a "clean" radar map, because you just never know.