We excavate the sediment carefully using small tools, recording finds as they are made, taking their coordinates with the aid of a laser level (the excavation area is too restricted for use of the total surveying station, unfortunately). Even though we take the greatest care when excavating, very small finds can be missed, so all of the excavated sediment is put into buckets that are lowered down on an aerial ropeway to the foot of the scaffolding tower. Here the sediment, duly labelled, is put into bags which drive round the hill to the marble company “Cabezo Gordo SA”. It lets us use its water to wash the sediment over our nests of 3 stainless-steel geological sieves each (decreasing in mesh-size from above downwards) in order to retrieve remains as small as 2 mm across with minimal damage to them.

Washing excavated sediment over geological sieves

Inspecting the sieves after washing

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