Cleaning and Tagging Artifacts 5/28/11

I have to say besides digging, my favorite part of Archaeology would have to be the cleaning of the artifacts. It's as if all the hard work that was put into starting test pits, auguring, planning out units, making sure everything is level, etc. once I scrub that tiny piece of ceramic's dirt away and see some kind of pretty floral pattern-it is a pretty neat feeling. The tagging on the other hand though, is monotonous...even though I know it is super important to do especially in keeping records nice and tidy. BTW...those of you that were putting the artifact number at the top..that is incorrect lovelies..it should be at the BOTTOM of the tag...where it says "artifact number" =) I found an interesting link explained what kind of "tools" are used to clean..and which ones shouldn't be (I believe). http://calintec.com/uploads/artifact_cleaning.pdf