| How to Explore the Archaeology of Your Backyard Jan 9th 2013, 08:00 Archaeology is the study of human activity. From an amateur perspective, it can be a fascinating hobby not only for adults with an interest in the past but also for young people who want to learn more about local history and possibly develop a future career. This tutorial gives a basic outline of digging a test pit at home and finding some archaeology in your own backyard. Stage 1: Preparation - Do your history research first. It can save a lot of time looking at the history of your local area as that way you will have a fair concept of what to expect, if anything is in your area. If your home has been occupied for many generations, you will likely find a better structure of the history to analyse. Places with little records, or that were known to have phases of occupation and desertion can be just as fascinating.
Go to your local library or historical society and ask local experts for their opinions and their advice. - It is important to know the local history or local myths. If your area is said to have history dating back hundreds of years, it can be a far more complex job to correctly identify layers, whereby if you are in a new development, the likelihood of finding old and complex human activity is minimal. In this case, interesting finds or anything you don't understand should be referred to the local museum or archaeological authority.
- Look in your backyard to scout out earthworks and other signs. Earthworks can include signs of ploughing, levelling, terracing or raising the earth to build on. There can also be banks and ditches, which can have a range of interpretations––these changes may have been recent, or much older and may be very subtle. Other useful signs to look for include:
- Parch marks or stunted growth in grass or fields. While this can be caused by plant pathology and soil fungus, regular shapes or marks where the soil is dry can be signs of compacted earth and foundations of buildings or other structures (including smaller things such as old bird baths, sundials, ponds and other garden furniture).
- Natural stone close to the surface could be of geological interest.
- There may be evidence of chemicals or waste dumping in the past. In this case, proceed with great caution, as exposing yourself to dangerous chemicals can be harmful or even lethal. (Contact your local authority if you are concerned this is the case.)
Ditches are seldom naturally occurring unless they were caused by old streams or wind erosion so unusual landmarks can be a sign of human activity.
- Look at your local landscape and consider why people decided to live there in the first place. It might be near a river or stream for water supplies, good soil for agriculture, forests for wood and hunting, local hills and valleys that protect from the elements and other aspects. Why you live in your area isn't always the reason why older generations decided to live there
- Very often, you may find existing structures, such as the garden shed, compost bin, fencing and paving. This is the archaeology of the future as the installation of these will leave telltale marks in the soil for the future archaeologists to discover. What you are doing is looking for the activity of generations past, which have also left traces for you to find.
- Google Maps or other satellite maps can be a great free source as you can zoom into your target for an aerial view. Several recent world discoveries in dangerous war zones and inhospitable terrain have been made using satellite maps from home offices.
- If you have ever watched any history or archaeology shows such as the history, National Geographic and Discovery Channel, or watched programs such as "Time Team" in the United Kingdom, you can get an idea about what's involved.
- Look for a good place to dig in your own backyard (or your neighbour's if they give you permission). Seek permission before you dig, as not only do you need the land-owners permission and local government permission if necessary, it can be important to check if there are existing services such as gas, electricity, sewerage, etc., in the place you wish to dig. Many nations and local governments have a "Dial before you Dig" program where you can get advice (and financial penalties for failing to seek the advice first.)
Stage 2: Starting the Trench - Gather your tools. Ideally, you should have a shovel, a medium garden trowel or a small cement trowel, a scraper and a brush. If you are lucky enough to have any finds, you should have a tray to keep them in, a camera and a ruler or yardstick. It is also recommended to have a tarpaulin or a wheelbarrow to add your soil and any turf-grass or paving stones onto without making a large mess.
- Dig a test pit. Otherwise known as a sondage, this pit should be a few feet (60-90cm) across, but generally no larger than a metre across each way, otherwise it can become too large a job that requires a long time to excavate. Start by measuring with string and pegs, marking paint or a frame. Lift the turf or paving stones. Put these aside neatly on the tarpaulin so you can easily put them back afterwards with minimal effect. After you have lifted all the turf, check the soil to see if there is anything there. This layer will be the most recent and will be unlikely to have anything very old, although you may find something a few decades old such as an old coin, discarded bottles and other recognisable items.
Collections of stones may be natural, but also a sign of building or demolition of former buildings. - Photograph anything interesting you may find. For young children, anything can be interesting, including old bottle caps and scrap, but genuinely interesting finds are directly related to human activity, as well as dating evidence.
- Start to take the soil back one layer at a time. As a very rough metaphor, imagine a loaf of bread. You cut the bread in even slices rather than make random holes on the loaf and that's roughly what you are endeavouring to do, by digging layer by layer, revealing even slices. This is the slower way of doing it, but it is arguably the proper method to reveal each layer and get an understanding of the contexts.
Sieving the soil can reveal a lot of small fragments and interesting finds that can easily be missed. - For most excavations, it's best to obtain a soil sieve from your local hardware store and check the "spoil heap" and/or hire or purchase a metal detector to check for small traces of metal objects. Both ways provide opportunities to find the subtle clues of history.
- The key method of layers is that if a coin from 1970 is found in that layer, then it's highly improbable that the layer is older than 1970––unless it was buried there––which in itself is an interesting discovery. If you find a very old layer, yet it has modern debris in it or below it, then old soil may have been shifted to that location, or there has been modern disturbance. This inconsistency is all part of the story.
- Keep an eye out for soil changes. The study of layers is often referred to as Stratigraphy and for very complex layers, it can be connected with palaeontology.
When you find changes in the soil, or you simply find something that is too big to simply judge as a natural formations, it's best to measure and plot the pit and photograph it for analysis. If you close the pit and replace the turf, be sure you mark out exactly where the pit was so you can find it in future. - If you find darker patches, this may be remains of charcoal; its presence may be as simple as a bonfire or campfire remains, or alternatively a older dumping ground for kitchen and other waste which has enriched the soil. Small or isolated patches of burnt material are more likely human made rather than a seasonal; naturally produced fires typically would form an even ash layer that can be found when digging several pits in an area. Intense or prolonged burning (such as an ancient hearth, forge or demolition) often leaves red traces in the soil. Other changes to the soil such as lighter and darker layers can show either natural accumulation, chemicals or metals being dumped, or humans digging holes for a fencepost, digging a trench to bury something or part of land management, such as building an earthen or stone wall. The key to being a good archaeologist is to decipher these changes.
- Photograph anything you uncover using your ruler as a scale reference. In particular, keep records of anything that can indicate unknown human activity, or activity that you wouldn't think is normal in a household backyard. It is best to record everything you find and observe, including depth and location in the test pit.
- Be mindful about the soil types. If you find soil that is different or not naturally occurring, this is a find all on its own. It may be something as simple as someone digging a garden bed using introduced materials or it could be something more complex, such as a quake or a novel building foundation; deducing from the earth what people in the past were doing there is what archaeology is all about.
- Dig as far as the evidence takes you. If you're like to to dig more than 1 foot (30cm) deep however, it's generally best to call in additional help, or leave the test pit and ask your local school, university or local historical society to get involved. Deep pits may need structural support for safety and if the water levels are high, may fill with water and be unsafe or just very difficult to excavate.
Its always useful to dig in a group, that way not only is the experience more enjoyable and less work, more can be learned and discussed.
Stage 3: Concluding the Dig - Record the data that comes out of the trench. Ideally, photograph or draw each layer or interesting find in context. This data can often be very important for a historians to learn from.
- Put aside any of your finds and take them to an historian or your local museum for advice. Most people can recognise a coin and scrap of ceramic as the things they are, but a local historian can give a far more interesting and informative analysis of how old the find really is and may provide interesting historical facts with it.
It might not be very old or look very interesting, but within the scraps there is always a story. - Be careful to examine and record everything that comes out of your test pit. Chunks of wood may be remains of a dead tree stump or branch, but if they also carry tool marks, this shows human activity even if it was simply chopping up firewood and a piece fell behind. The same applies to stones, especially flint-like stones if you live in an areas with known or suspected ancient occupation. These stones may be plain and natural, but some stone may be "worked", meaning it has been shaped for decorative or functional purposes. Traces of cement, mortar, plaster or chiseling frequently reveal that a stone has been part of something, such as being part of a tool, or could denote a place that these materials were produced.
- Anything very delicate should not be cleaned by a hobbyist if it may be of any historical or analytical importance. Most finds can be brushed clean or even lightly cleaned in water if they are robust enough to tolerate it.
- Consider your conclusions. While the chances of finding an ancient treasure is rare, you may find some evidence of people being in your area many decades before you, perhaps even one hundred years ago. Don't neglect the banal––everyday objects help to rebuild a picture of life as it once was, revealing what people did in times now gone and can tell you things such as the level of wealth or lack of it, the technological state of the community and the reliance on local or imported products.
- Close your pit by replacing the soil and turf. Be sure to mark out where you made the pit––this is useful not only in case you found something or wish to return to the site later, but finding nothing is a result, so you wouldn't want to re-dig it when you already know what's there. It's recommended to either draw a map, or print out a satellite image of your backyard from Google Maps or other online map programs and to outline on this map where you placed your trench.
- In the exceptionally unlikely event of finding human bodily remains, contact the local police immediately. Likewise, if you find any bone that you don't recognise as being non-human (such as the remains of buried family pet, or a dog that buried a bone and forgot about it); photograph it and take the photo to the authorities for it to be identified. One amateur digger found what looked at first glance to be a decayed human ribcage but on further analysis, it turned out to be a warped and bent old metal rake. It's best to be careful, but not alarmed.
- Even if a promising looking site reveals nothing more than natural bedrock stone formations, this stone can be cleaned up and used as a natural garden feature, so your efforts need not be wasted.
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