Strange’s Laws of Archaeological Excavation - The BAS Library
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Excavation Opportunities 1985

Strange’s Laws of Archaeological Excavation

New evidence for Murphy’s Law—if something can go wrong, it will

By James F. Strange

Laws In Tell Archaeology 1. No matter where you sink the first square,a you will find a Turkish toilet. 2. If three Ph.D.s with 39 years of field experience among them lay out the grid, it will later turn out to be irretrievably in error. Corollary: The error will not be found until the final report is being written. 3. If a professional surveyor with 39 years of experience surveying in the field is hired next time, then the grid will again be irretrievably in error. First Corollary: If a second professional surveyor is hired (at great expense) to […]

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Footnotes

1.

In modern archaeological technique, a grid is laid over a plan of the site, forming squares. The dig director then decides which squares to excavate. The squares are usually five meters square and are separated by catwalks, called balks, one meter wide.

2.

Named for the excavations at Tell Gezer.

3.

Named for archaeologist Darrell Lance, a member of the senior staff at Tell Gezer.

4.

Named for archaeologist Leonard Woolley, who excavated at Ur from 1922 to 1934.

5.

Named for the excavation at Tell Balata, ancient Shechem.