What is that an image of - an archaeo testing or a waterline being placed?  What is the string supposed to be - a do not cross line? Cant be for measuring anything in that trench? 

What do you mean by slope to great?  slope of what?

I don't get it either....

I think he is using the line with a line level to get a profile of the trench. Due to the slope being too great he used the backhoe to elevate and level out the string. Of course this is the only thing I could figure out! 

Ok, let me spell it out for those of you who have apparently never experienced challenging field conditions or urban archaeological techniques-

This trench excavation was part of a Phase I survey in an urban setting (including gang graffiti and spent 9mm ammo). We were requested to take a look at the characteristics of at least 3 historic infill levels that were deposited over a steep natural slope prior to the construction of the late 19th or early 20th c. houses present on site. We discovered that some effort was made to terrace the fill and sculpt somewhat level side and rear yards.  The elevation change between the top and base of the slope was over 7 feet. Hence using the backhoe arm to keep a level stringline static.  We then drew a trench wall profile, it was a heck of a lot easier and faster this way then doing a series of drawings using different datum points.

Improvisation in the ghetto... Get it?

 And a "waterline being placed?" Yes, sometimes urban archaeology resembles utility installation.

Also... Lets not lose our senses of humor here folks... In our field sometimes you have to look adversity in the face and just laugh and sally forth.

Wow, how silly of folks not to have derived all that information from that one grainy photo...

Well, despite the grain of the 3rd gen photo, there are several hints as to whats going on in that shot, a picture speaks a thousand words... Just defending myself against the "snark-asm" posted by the first 2 members.

I was not being snarky.  I truly did not "get" what the photo was supposed to be showing.  Your explanation put the photo into context, and now I do get it.  I am snarkless in the matter....

Ok, maybe me being defensive. Wow, this is now just like a real forum! Ha!

Ok, let me spell it out for those of you who have apparently never experienced challenging field conditions or urban archaeological techniques-

Wow, that's quite an assumption! 

Or it could just be your photo was too grainy and your description made no sense to anyone besides yourself.  I think that's a bit more likely than you being the only one on this site who has "experienced challenging field conditions".

Aaron -

 Like Scotty, I wat not attempting to be "snarky" or anything else, but asking serious questions so that I could understand your photo.  As someone who has to review others work on a daily basis (and has been in the field for 30+ years),  I see this kind of (sorry but true) useless photo all the time.  The main problem is usually that the persons submitting the photos understands quite well exactly what it shows, but to someone who only has the photo to look at....it does not say much. I see plenty of great images as well - but a few bad ones can cause a great deal of headaches.    Also - while any picture is worth 1000 words, every picture also needs a good caption to put it in context and identify what the photographer want to call your attention to.

Being completely serious - and offering these observations to help in your future work (and for others as well) what I see in the photo -

Setting - behind a house, but not necessarily an urban area - quite a bit of space between the homes and could be any downtown area (not necessarily urban).

Tench - long and narrow - not sure if the bucket in the picture is even the same that excvated it since it seems wider than the trench (that could be perspective).

Trench walls slightly irregular (it happens) but the tops are not cleared as they should be.  In fact the backdirt pile on the left probably violates OSHA regs.  I would not want to be in that trench, especiallly if fill - high potential for collapse.

Line - is visible, but it is not clear that it is level - nothing for good reference to show that.  Actually seems higher up slope, almost as if paralleling slope - that may simply be a perspective problem in the way the photo was taken - but that is what is looks like.  Nor is it clear it is tied to the bucket arm.  At first glance it actually appears to be going under the arm and I thought it could be showing how close the operator was to disturbing the line.

Trench - to dark to provide any information on the strata - this is fine if you are trying to show general conditions - but I get photos like this where the captions talk about strata - you would be amazed - even in the age of digital -immediate feedback - photography - at how many people do not understand how to adjust for light/shadows and fail to get useful pictures when they are in the field.

Slope - some is obvious - but no inkling that it reached 7 feet - something to give scale would be useful (person at the far end)

String location - Does not appear to be over the profile - so tough to assume that is what it is for.  Especially when tape is streched along the opposite wall - and that side appears better prepared for profiling (top relatively clear, direct light, etc.  The way the tape is laid out (not stretched) it seems that it is only taking a rough measure of the length - aside from the string (maybe) there is no evidence to suggest profiling/strata concerns are the theme of the pic.

Finally, I appreciate your effort to share ingenuity with us - that is an important part of doing field work.  Over the years I have used this very method of tying of the level line on numerous projects where the slope was an issue - in both urban and wooded settings. I think a tag for innovative approaches might be a good addition to the website.  Thanks for sharing and I look forward to more posts from you.

DM

Just looks like another day of CRM to me.