In the Field
 A
typical day begins with breakfast at zero-dark-thirty (or about
4:30 am) followed by travel to the site. The team arrives before
sunrise in order to make progress photos in the warm glow of the
pre-dawn light. The first order of business is to “brush up” the
square (remove foot prints and any dust that settled overnight
so the square looks clean and the rocks and any architecture
will be clear in the photo). While waiting for the photo, the
Square Team prepares the pottery pail with the appropriate tag,
places the counter by the sieve for counting gufahs of soil,
prepares the bone bag, and updates the Locus Sheet with Pottery
Pail Tag numbers.[
Photo]
Also, the Square Supervisor may discuss with the Field
Supervisor the planned agenda for the day’s excavations. Once
the progress photos are taken, the Square Supervisor records the
photo numbers on Locus Sheets for all the loci visible in the
photo. [
Photo]
 Now
that all the daily preliminaries are out of the way, excavation
can begin. The actual digging usually does not involve any tools
larger than a hand pick or a trowel. Most of the soil is
removed by scraping it up with a trowel into a dustpan and then
dumping it into a gufah. [
Photo] The filled
gufah is taken by a local worker to the sieve where the soil is
sifted through a screen in order to find small objects. [
Photo]
 As
the gufahs fill with soil, the Square Supervisor has several
concerns in mind. First, the Square Supervisor is mindful of the
local workers. Are they keeping count of the number of gufahs of
soil removed? Are they carefully looking for small objects
as they sift the soil? Are workers from another square
mistakenly using the wrong sieve? If so, there is a great risk
of data contamination, i.e., potsherds placed in the wrong pail.
Second, the Square Supervisor is concerned about the work in the
square. Is the excavation being done carefully, so to articulate
objects, features, and architecture? [
Photo] Is there a
texture or color change in the soil, requiring the start of a
new locus? Is all the data being properly and promptly recorded?
These concerns are not as burdensome as they may sound. Good
training for the Square Team at the beginning of the season
helps each team member know his or her role and helps the entire
operation work smoothly. [
Photo]
 Work
continues up to “Second Breakfast” (around 9:00 am) when the
team stops for a break. By this time the sun is already hot and
beating down, promising another mirror day of all the other,
very predictable days of summer in the Jordanian desert. The
ever mindful Square Supervisor begins to push water consumption
by the crew. Heat and low humidity takes a subtle toll on those
who do not drink plenty of liquids.
After breakfast, excavation work continues for another 3 1/2
hours or so. Around 12:30, the focus becomes finding a good
stopping point and gathering all the tools, equipment, pottery
pails, etc., that need to be brought in from the field. When the
square is cleaned up and tools secured, the team “heads home”
(back to the hotel or wherever they are staying) with the
yearning for a good bath and a tasty afternoon meal. However,
before the bath and meal, the pottery pail is filled with water
so the sherds can soak awhile before they are washed later in
the afternoon. [
Photo]
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