Excavator Bias at the Site of Pech de l'Azé IV, France

“What do I do with all these shells?” Basic guidance for the recovery, processing and retention of archaeological marine shells

“…Hand-recovery simply does not recover what really is preserved in an archaeological deposit (Payne, 1972): not potsherds (Orton et al, 1993, 46e47), not lithics (Ball and Bobrowsky, 1987;Dibble et al, 2005;Graesch, 2009), not plant remains (Struever, 1968), not animal bones (Clason and Prummel, 1977), not even human skeletons, articulated, in graves (Mays et al, 2012). What a field technician recovers by hand from a deposit depends more on that technician's interests and experience than what is in that deposit (Clarke, 1978;Levitan, 1982, 26e27).…”

“…The research potential of archived material can be severely reduced by field-recovery bias (Dibble et al, 2005). Hand-recovered archaeological marine shell (the majority in archives in Britain, and probably elsewhere) is so biased that re-excavating sites and sieving to recover interpretable assemblages of shell (and most other materials) may be merited.…”

Contacts under the lens: Perspectives on the role of microstratigraphy in archaeological research

“…In both of the systems common to Paleolithic excavations ("arbitrary spits" and "natural stratigraphy"), findings are normally piece plotted, and post-excavation artifact distributions or additional grouping variables such as archaeological horizons can be used to define analytical units independent of geogenic stratigraphic contacts (e.g., Dibble et al 2005). Nonetheless, the older practice of using sedimentary strata visible in the field as the smallest analytical units is still widespread, and researchers often compare groups of materials from different geogenic layers hoping to identify changes in the use of activity areas, subsistence strategies, settlement patterns, technology, and other such aspects of human culture.…”

“…Dibble et al (2005) argue that this approach may lead to interpretive error because in many cases, visible stratigraphic contacts reflect geogenic processes largely disconnected from human activity. In addition, visible sedimentary strata can form in sites as a result of both depositional and post-depositional processes.…”

The value of sieving of grave soil in the recovery of human remains: an experimental study of poorly preserved archaeological inhumations

“…It has long been established that sieving of soil from archaeological deposits is effective in increasing the recovery of small artifacts and faunal remains (Thomas, 1969;Payne, 1972;Levitan, 1982;Dibble et al, 2005). A large archaeozoological literature (e.g.…”