Today, University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeology Institute student, Aime Sohkhlet writes our blog…
For most of my time on site, I have been working on area Q and as the two weeks passed by, I was slowly able to see new and great developments throughout.
From a levelled area of soil to emerging rocks, bones and walls, area Q now has character and definition through all that we have uncovered. Day 10 at the Cairns has been quite a productive day. With no rain and relatively no sun, I think it was a perfect day to work and bask in the fog that sheltered us from any harsh working conditions, considering the task that was given to my group today.
The task set for my final day on site was simple but equally important as the rest of the work involved in understanding the lives of Iron Age people. We were tasked with photo cleaning area Q specifically context (1851) and getting it picture perfect! This process in my opinion might have been the most difficult thing I’ve done so far (and this is saying a lot because fieldwork is hard work all around haha…)
Photo cleaning is an aspect of fieldwork that I am now appreciating. The most important thing that my supervisor got me to think about is presentation and perspective. The skill of presenting our work through a single photograph not only involved our hard work of cleaning the site but it also depended on Mother Nature. Just picture us all praying for a cloud to pass in front of the sun everyday so that our pictures weren’t over exposed by the harsh sun haha… the presence of the fog today was a great bonus really.
A single shot is supposed to be able to tell an observer a story. A picture can serve a thousand words and because of this, we had to meticulously clean and present our site in such a way that even a person with just little knowledge about The Cairns would be able to understand the context and what our aims were for that particular part of it all. Every angle and every shot was taken and recorded and through this process, we are able to see progression on site and present it to everyone else with the confidence that everything was, and I say this with much joy haha… Picture Perfect!
Fieldwork demands dedication and through every task that was given to me and the group that I was in, I think we learnt to dedicate ourselves toward hard work and something close to perfection in everything that we do and because of this I think my first two weeks of excavation (EVER) at the Cairns, was a success!
Thanks to Aime Sohkhlet, UHI, BA Archaeology Student
Great information. When I learn through a photo or diagram, I forget the thought process that you have gone through to present the information by telling a story. Wonderful.