Urban Archaeology

...define, record, remove...

Urban excavation factsheet 3:

The site clean

When starting an urban site there are many tasks, getting the site cleaned and prepared properly is one of the most importan: getting the site clean right will greatly help the site whilst a poor site clean will set a site back, and potentially lead to delays and overrun. So what is a site clean? It's not just a case of clearing all the rubble and trowelling the site, it's a process that involves getting the site ready for excavation, and assessing what the archaeology on the site is, how to dig it, and what resources will be needed. A good site clean will allow quantification of the strat, help the supervisors plan where to place staff around the site, decide where to start excavating first and where must wait, and how the grid, access walkways, scaffolding, barrow runs, hoists, spoil heaps etc need to be laid out. It also gives supervisors time to get the site paperwork organised and to assess their team.
? The first question, and one asked all through the process and beyond, is 'is the site safe?' -Has

demolition ceased? Are machines going to track over the site again? Once the site has been cleaned it is extremely vulnerable to damage and the site clean should not normally be started until all initial safety issues have been addressed and the site has been formally handed over.
? If you are in a basement, check the ceiling for any loose material that may fall, the same with adjacent

walls. You may need to get crash decks or screens built to protect areas.
? Be on the look out for raw sewage and water leaking out of broken soil pipes and drains, make sure all

broken pipes are bunged properly. Now is a good time for a Toolbox Talk reminder on Weils Disease.
? Dig as much of the modern material as possible with the machine, including backfilled eval trenches

where possible.
? Can you get the machine back into site to break any further concrete or remove spoil? Or will

jackhammers have to be used? Can all concrete be broken now or will its removal leave vulnerable areas that may collapse?
? Clean all the rubbish and dust off of walkways, slabs, concrete etc. Be aware of glass and other sharp

material that is on site or could fall onto site.

? Bag up all unstratified material. DON'T leave unstrat finds lying around, bag them up! ? See if you can get hold of any plywood to use as shovel boards or to protect the site once you have

cleaned it, you may be able to get the site chippy to cut boards to size.
? Get the contractor to burn/grind off any exposed re-bar or metal snags.

Work out where the grid lines will go, can you work off OS grid or do you need a site grid, or even ? baselines? Where will site access be, how will ladders be fixed? Where can hoists be situated? Will some areas need ? to be completed to allow access to other areas?

Chiz Harward, Urban Archaeology 2007, revised 2014

contact: chiz@urban-archaeology.co.uk

Urban Archaeology
...define, record, remove...

Urban excavation factsheet 3

The site clean

The site clean is a bit of a circular process, the supervisor will have broken out and machined out most of the concrete intrusions, where they are not too deep, but further intrusions such as drains will be revealed during the clean, the area may then need cleaning again after these have been removed. Use drainage and service plans if you have them to try and get all the drains etc. out in one go.
? Breaker holes will normally be full of dust and concrete and will have disturbed the surrounding

stratigraphy.
? It is often worth removing rubble backfill of post medieval cellars or wells now, rather than later, although

they should be recorded properly. Work out access routes, barrow runs and any areas that will need scaffolding or shoring; avoid positioning ? walkways over areas of med or post med pitting or cellars as these will probably need to be dug first.
? Fragile or damaged areas of surviving strat may need to be dug in advance if they are in danger of

collapse.
? Will you need water pumps? Where can they drain to? Will you need hoists? How will spoil get off site?

The site clean should start from the furthest point and progress towards the spoil removal area, if there are labourers use them to remove loose rubble and modern make-up deposits. Identify modern intrusions and get them broken out if they can be. Once a discreet area is cleared of obvious intrusions, clean by trowelling or mattocking back, clean all sections, and make sure you remove all modern tramples which may be quite thick. Modern material may be trampled especially thickly over softer pit fills, it is worth removing all this now to reveal tip lines and cuts, a good hard clean with a mattock, and then a good trowel is usually needed, not just a burnishing of the trample with a trowel! Remember that you may need to cut sections back to reveal the true stratigraphy, rather than the initial blurred disturbed face. After the site clean you should be able to see where to start in each part of the site, the latest contexts in the sequence should be obvious. It may be worth while doing a sketch of each area. After the site is cleaned you will probably need to do a top plan: annotate this and put levels on the varying intrusions and concrete foundations as well as across the archaeology. Use the sections exposed by removal of modern material to look at the archaeology and try to understand the site. Can you see natural? What level is it? How does this compare to the eval? Can you see any Roman fire horizons? What does the sequence look like? Lots of stripey buildings or big fat dumps? Are there any fragile timbers or deposits that need protecting? All this information can help plan how to dig the site and what time to spend on different deposits and where to put staff.

Chiz Harward, Urban Archaeology 2007, revised 2014

contact: chiz@urban-archaeology.co.uk