Old school stratigraphy vs modern GPS mapping - which tells the real story?

Back in 2012 on a dig in Kansas, we used nothing but trowels and a Munsell chart to read soil layers. Took us 3 weeks to figure out a midden deposit. Now with a total station and GIS, I can map a trench in an afternoon. But the old school guys say digital misses the texture and nuance. I switched fully to digital mapping in 2018 after a site in New Mexico. Does a computer really replace the feel of a trowel scrape? Anyone here stuck with the old ways and regretted it or vice versa?

3 comments

3 Comments

rowan_roberts492mo ago

Did a friend get lost on a site without GPS for five hours?

the_rose14d agoTop Commenter

Did they have a phone at all or was it just dead battery and no signal? @rowan_roberts49 I'm curious what kind of site it was, like an old quarry or something with a grid layout?

william_carter2mo ago

Oh man, I feel this one! I once spent two hours trying to find a buried wall with a trowel and ended up scraping my own knuckle instead. GPS might not give you the smell of the dirt, but at least it doesn't make you bleed for your data!