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After a field school director told me my trowel marks were too sloppy I switched to a sharper blade and started taking twice as long on each cut.
He said I was destroying stratigraphy by rushing through the dirt, and now I focus on making clean sections even if it means I uncover less per day - has anyone else had to relearn their basic excavation technique after getting chewed out?
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julia_carter617h ago
I remember my first dig in New Mexico, my supervisor pulled me aside and said my cuts looked like I was digging a ditch not an excavation unit. It stung but she was right about me being way too fast and careless with the edges. Taking twice as long on each cut is a rough adjustment but honestly it makes a huge difference for reading the soil layers later on. Good on you for making the change even if it feels slower now, that attention to detail will save you headaches when you're trying to figure out what happened where.
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stella_scott961h ago
Taking twice as long" just means you were rushing before. Speed comes with practice not force.
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