Loan Box Curiosities: Being an Archaeologist

Before historical objects come to our museum, they lead many lives. Some are cherished household objects, others have religious or cultural significance. At Reading Museum, we’ve got everything from paintings to festival posters to, famously, biscuit tins.

Museum objects come to us from sales and auctions, from peoples’ attics, and even from other museums. But sometimes, in order to get to the good stuff, you’ve got to get out your spade and get digging.

Ever wanted to know what it’s like to work as an archaeologist? Here’s a closer look at one of our loan boxes designed to illustrate the real day-to-day tools of the trade.

What is Archaeology?

Archaeology is the recovery and study of the material remains of the past. This can include anything from a Neolithic arrowhead, to the Reading Abbey Ruins. Studying such finds and sites helps us to understand where and how people used to live, what they ate, how they communicated and what they believed.

Specifically, archaeology is the study of the human past. A common misconception is that archaeology also looks at dinosaurs and fossils, but while those are also fascinating, you’d need to get hold of a palaeontologist to learn about them!

Archaeology is a destructive process and cannot be reversed, and as such archaeology relies on making extensive records so that we do not lose any key information.

What does an archaeologist do?

When you think of an archaeologist, many people imagine Indiana Jones, searching for treasure and travelling around the world. However, programmes like Time Team and Digging for Britain, while made for entertainment, show a much more accurate view of the realities of the profession.

The job of an archaeologist is much more like a detective, using material remains as clues to piece together a picture of the past.

Also, there are different types of roles that archaeologists can specialise in.

For example, a field archaeologist would know about excavating sites and doing building or ground surveys (including geophysics) – basically, all of the practical applications of archaeology in the field.

By contrast, a specialist in post excavation would know everything about processing and recording finds from the site and producing reports which help to build a picture of both the archaeology of the site specifically and also the archaeology the surrounding areas and region.

Archaeologists are usually employed by local authorities, universities, private companies, charities or government agencies. Whenever a development scheme might have an impact on a historic landscape, it is law for an archaeological survey to be carried out, to make sure nothing of historical importance is destroyed.

Items from the Box

Digger toy

A fun object to start with is this model digger. Its real-life counterpart is used in the first step of physically excavating a site. A backhoe digger is a type of excavation equipment often used on excavations to take away the topsoil before the site and features can be excavated by hand.  The digger is attached to a tractor or front loader and consists of a digging bucket on the end of a two-part articulated arm, known as a JCB in the UK and Ireland. 

Trowel

Most archaeologists in Britain use a WHS (William Hunt & Sons) four-inch pointing trowel.  Originally designed as a builder’s tool, the straight edges allow archaeologists to scrape away at the soil horizontally, layer by layer, rather than digging vertically into the ground.

It’s a bit hard to tell from the photograph, but the trowel in this box is more worn down on the left edge. As such, we could theorise that the archaeologist this belonged to was right-handed. It’s little details like this that turn an archaeologist’s tools into their own kind of material history, helping us learn more about the person an item belonged to.

Tape measure

The humble tape measure may seem like a simple piece of equipment, but it is an essential tool for archaeologists. 

It is used on site to lay out grids which make it easier to record features and finds. These grids are usually 5 m square, and separate areas of the site so that each can be worked and no ground is left un-covered. 

Tape measures are also used to measure the depth and width of each layer of earth, and where certain features lie within the layer. 

Model of Stratification

My personal favourite item in this box is the model of stratification. The bright colours show the different contexts (layers of earth) within which are examples of finds. The finds within this model are also real accessioned artefacts that are part of the museum’s collection.

Contexts are incredibly important as they show a snapshot of an event that happened in the past.

A context includes the layer an object was found in, what sort of earth that layer is made of (soil, clay, chalk, etc.) and any other objects found within the same layer.  

Stratification is a key concept in archaeology which helps us to understand the history of a site or settlement. Material remains are deposited in layers of earth beneath us, with the newest finds at the top and the oldest at the bottom.

The green layer is called the topsoil and contains modern finds, such a Coke bottle lid and a paperclip.  The red layer contains finds from the Medieval period. Here you can see some tile and green glazed pottery. The next layer shows the Roman occupation, with replica coins, a sherd from the rim of a pot and a piece of Samian ware (fine red glazed pottery from Gaul).  The bottom blue layer is the oldest. The finds here are Prehistoric, and appear to be scrapers, which could have been used to process animal hides into leather.

It’s worth noting that the cutting of the pit into the soil is a context in its own right, as the digging of this pit is an event we would record.

Context Record Sheet

How do archaeologists make sure they aren’t confusing the contexts in which objects are found? Meet the humble context record sheet.

We use this to record details such as the type of material that makes up the context, e.g. soil type, as well as the finds within it. 

There is space for a sketch, a box to fill out a Harris matrix which records the surrounding contexts and how they interact with each other.

When a find is removed from its context it loses a lot of its importance because the context is what gives an object meaning, rather than it existing in a vacuum. Think about it – a banana peel on a rubbish heap is different to a banana peel on a shiny, slippery hotel lobby floor. Context, as they say, is everything.

Without archaeologists, we wouldn’t be able to learn nearly as much about how people lived in the past. Every dig site represents a wealth of opportunities to learn more about our world and how the society we live in came to be.

Our loan box service now has over one thousand boxes, covering a vast range of subjects from archaeology to taxidermy. Schools can use real objects to teach, which provides children with tangible and tactile connections to the past.

If you have connections to a school in the Reading area and are interested in taking part in our loans service, please contact us. We’d be delighted to open up the curiosities of the museum to you.