Got called out for my sloppy trench notes at the Moundville dig

Last season, a senior archaeologist looked at my field notebook and said, 'This is a mess. If you can't read your own notes in five years, they're useless.' He was right. I was scribbling layer depths and artifact counts on random pages, mixing days, no clear grid references. I felt like an idiot. So I bought a specific waterproof notebook and now I force myself to write the date, unit number, and a simple grid code at the top of every single page before I even pick up a trowel. It takes an extra minute, but now my notes from the last three months are actually clear. Has anyone else had to completely overhaul a basic field habit after some harsh but fair criticism?

3 comments

3 Comments

mila_campbell2521d ago

Totally feel that. Got ripped for my terrible photo logs on a coastal survey last year. My boss said my scale arrows looked like a toddler drew them and my photo numbers made no sense. It was brutal but man, did it ever fix my act. Now I have a dumb little checklist on a zip-lock bag I have to fill out before every single photo. Feels silly but you're right, that extra minute saves so much headache later. Why do we always learn the hard way?

gavinwells21d ago

Your zip-lock checklist is smart, but it'll get wrecked by the salt spray.

faith_thomas21d ago

My buddy Mark lost a whole week of field data because his notebook turned into a saltwater soup. He switched to a grease pencil on a plastic clipboard after that.