| Entry: | Hello. I am trying to understand how to record features. I excavated in space 100 with the Stanford team this summer and we are finishing up paperwork now. This summer, most of what we removed was fill - we exposed features but only excavated a few, so I have not thought very much about the issues in describing features until now (keep in mind that I am new to archaeology). What is confusing to me is that unexcavated (what I will refer to as) 'definitional' units can be included in "feature units" for an excavated feature. It is important to discuss these 'definitional' units because they may support or bound excavated units that comprised the excavated feature, and they are visible at the end and can be useful for interpretation of what has been exavated. But, if we are to give features sharp definitional boundaries (I.e. not overlap largely in unit numbers) then there needs to be a distinction between "feature units" which I understand to be contained within the extent of the feature, and 'definitional' units which may remain unexcavated because they are part of other features. Also, the interpretation of an unexcavated 'definitional' unit may change with its later excavation, possibly invalidating interpretations made for a feature it does not make up. These issues are not problematic if everyone is aware of them, but I think adding checkboxes on the feature sheet for excavated/unexcavated and compositional/definitional in the "feature units" section would be useful.
Specifically what has been confusing to me is the recording of a bin/platform, feature number 1652. This feature has been interpreted differently throughout the stages of its excavation because it is intricately related through complicated phases to the nearby basin and bin structures. Identifying features in this crowded area requires more interpretation than in the rest of the space where platforms and floors are relatively spread out. It just seems riskier to use unexcavated units in the interpretation of excavated features here, and a checkbox to draw attention to this as a potential source of interpretive error could be useful, as well as a checkbox to indicate 'definitional' as opposed to 'compositional'.Entered By: Darin Nee |
