I really dig pits
- By: David Ross |
- Jul 24, 2008
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I mean I really do, and in several ways. As a digger, or site assistant, I like their sculptural quality, rarely just a hole in the ground but inverted forms comprised of arcs, curves cut from the surrounding soil and entirely dependent on the practicalities and physical mechanics of the process of digging by hand, the person or persons who did the digging, and the tools they used.
A pit is a feature not only capable of capturing the evidence of just one event in history as in the case of a cremation burial, or a receptacle for the gradual build up of humanities detritus over the course of time. Providing a unique context for the time the pit was dug, and what happened around that area from that point onward. All helps build up a picture of the local activity and occupation of a site. It also seems to have the ability to reconnect the digger with this event through the re-excavation process.
Have I been out in the sun too long?