Stop using just a trowel on wet sites, here is why I switched to a water screen

I spent two summers digging a Viking site in York thinking I was careful with just my trowel in muddy soil. Then last year I brought in a simple 1mm mesh water screen and found 17 bone beads and a tiny bronze pin in just one afternoon. The difference was huge because the wet clay just hides small stuff you can't see, even if you think you are being patient. Has anyone else had better luck switching to water screening on waterlogged digs or am I just lucky with that one spot?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_mia1d ago

Man I feel that pain so hard, I once spent a whole weekend troweling through a waterlogged Roman ditch and found basically nothing but rocks. My back was killing me and I was ready to quit archaeology forever. Then a friend loaned me a water screen and I pulled out a tiny glass bead on my FIRST bucket of dirt. I swear I heard the universe laughing at me. Now I feel like an idiot for all those years of stubbornly sticking with just the trowel. That wet clay is basically a magician hiding all the good stuff.

morgan.joseph1d ago

Second bucket for me, that's when I finally found the bronze pin that made the whole dig worth it.