Student Blog — How to dig a 1×1 excavation unit

Alyssa Williams

The tools for digging a 1×1 unit include a sieve, a shovel and optionally a bucket. For digging you can use a pointed shovel, a square shovel or a trowel. Which one you use depends on the situation and your personal preference. Additionally if any artifacts are found while excavating the unit an artifact bag will be needed to collect the artifacts. Always remember to properly label the bag.

The unit can either be measured out using a planning frame or with a measuring tape and triangulation. The corners of the unit must be marked. If the unit has sod on it the sod must be carefully removed whereas if the unit has no sod you can skip the next part. If the unit has sod you first cut the sod at the edge of the unit with a pointed shovel, square shovel or a sod lifter if desired. Once the edge has been established cut pieces of the sod away from the rest of the soil leaving approx. 5-10 cm high sod removed from the ground.

Once the sod is removed or if there wasn’t any to begin with use your shovel to remove dirt within your 1×1 unit. If excavating at fixed layers make sure to only go down to the level that was pre-determined. If excavating based on soil layers pay attention to the appearance of the soil and if it begins to change stop digging. Shovel all the dirt you remove either straight into your sieve or into a bucket that you pour into the sieve. This dirt must then be sifted through to determine whether the soil contains any artifacts. If any artifacts are found place them in an artifact bag. Continually dig out dirt and then sift it until you have reached the desired depth or 5cm into subsoil.

Throughout the process of excavating it is necessary to clean up the walls of your unit. This can be done with either a shovel or trowel by cutting away the dirt at the edges of the unit to make the walls straight and vertical. Be careful not to undercut the soil.