To Fill a Vacuum

Abstract

the digging archaeolo­

gist spends a great deal of valuable time separating the analyti­ cally important wheat-artifacts, ecofacts and the samples that science is heir to from the huge mass of disposable chaff-the soil matrix of the site being excavated. In Hawai'i, where small-scale handwork is the rule, the common process is to clear away the loosened and obscuring dirt generated by one's digging by scraping, sweeping, brushing and scooping it into buckets that are then carried to screens for sifting.