How to get a work-out while wet sieving

During the first week of this years excavation I discovered the best way to get in shape while working on an archaeological site: wet sieving. This may sound strange at first, since wet sieving itself is not that physically demanding. However, it is not the wet sieving itself that is a great workout, it are all the processes associated with wet sieving that are physically intense.. and that is where I come in.

At Barnham all the sediments that are going to be sieved are dried first after which they are soaked with washing powder (see tomorrow' s blog by Simon O'Connor). This means that the sediments need to be moved around after they are excavated. I am in charge of all of these processes and thus mostly spend my days walking around with sediments bags and buckets filled with sediment. During the first week of the excavation I transported 2.166 liter of sediment, which is the equivalent of 3465.6 kg (twice) and I walked approximately 15 km a day while doing so.

Excavated sediments drying after being brought up in bags

Transport of the dried sediment 

Buckets of soaking samples waiting to be sieving

So if you ever feel like you could use a good workout for the day, you are welcome to give me a hand -it will take some of the weight of my shoulders!

~by Carli Peters, pictures by Jordan Mansfield