Methods & Aims in Archaeology

by W. M. Flinders Petrie

Raising earth.

Where a deep hollow has to be cleared out it is a wasteful plan to let the boys walk out with the basket of earth, as they have to raise the body, which is about four times the weight of their load. So soon as the rise is as steep as one in four, it is best to form a fixed chain of boys ([Fig. 27]), each standing in a permanent place, and handing the baskets up from one to another. About 5 feet apart horizontally is as far as is useful; or in case of steep work (as out of pits) the vertical lift may be 3 or 4 feet ([Fig. 1]). A sufficient number of collectors at the bottom and throwers at the top are of course needed to keep the chain in full work ([Fig. 28]). A well-proportioned gang should not have any accumulations along it, and must be quietly watched from time to time to see that all parts work equally. If the baskets of earth lag at any point and accumulate, the boys before the point must be thinned, and those beyond it increased. A favourite plan of the boys is to let a basket lie unshifted and then stand upon it, as a full basket of earth gives a pleasant footing, and there is one less to keep moving. In this way most of the baskets can be quietly suppressed and yet every one remains as busy as they can be with the short stock of baskets that remain. All such misuse of baskets must be stopped at once; but old burst baskets may be used thus with advantage.

Chains of workers.

Fig. 27. At tomb of Usertesen II.

Chains of workers.

Fig. 28. At tomb of King Den.

This system of lifting is also used in a surprising way for vertical tomb pits. An Egyptian man will stand all day with his feet on opposite sides of a pit in foot-holes, and stoop down to take a full basket from a man below at the level of his feet; then raise himself, and lift the basket up at arms’ length above his head, thus lifting it 6 or 7 feet. Three men will thus empty out a pit to 20 feet deep; but such men are usually old tomb-robbers, and must be employed with circumspection. More usually ropes are used, one tied to each handle of a basket, and pulled up by a pair of men. The earth is best left in the carrying basket, which is laid in the roped basket at the bottom, and taken out of it at the surface. If the pit is rotten and wide at the top, the basket has to be swung across the top two or three times, until on letting the ropes loose it flies out 10 or 20 feet to the side of the pit, where it is caught by the emptying boy. Clever rope-men will let a basket fly so as to catch on the top of the dump heap and turn over, so that it only needs clearing loose to let it go back again. The ropes need careful watching; the men love to tie knots in them, to grip by, whereby they wear through at the knots and drop to pieces; also the ropes are dragged on the edge of the pit, so as to serve as a friction-clutch when changing hands, thus wearing the rope out in two days instead of two months; the sides of the pit should be looked at to see if there is any sawing by the rope, and if so, the men must be stopped. They also cut off pieces if the ropes are long; and it is best to have all ropes in standard lengths of 8 metres, these when doubled thrice over down to 1 metre length are quickly tested for length, and then hanked in the middle to put by. Lastly, if not regularly delivered into store every night, the ropes are not returned when a pit is finished; and then they vanish, and a fresh pair is asked for when the next pit goes deep.

Another favourite misuse of ropes is to lash them round blocks of stone which have to be dragged, and thus cut the rope into scraps by wearing on the ground. Ropes can generally be put round the sides of a stone, and kept in place by some old scraps passing beneath.