Note taking is an never ending process during excavation. Cameras are used to record people, features and artifacts. Click HERE to see a TDS in action. Tapemeaures, string and line levels are also used to find the exact location of objects within each unit. Click HERE to see a line level at work.
Archaeologists also draw lots and lots of pictures and maps of the site and individual units.
They are often very interested in the structure of the soil itself. It can give clues as to whether the buried portions of the site have been disturbed and tell, through the use of the principles of stratigraphy, how old things are and when they were buried. Special maps of the sides of excavations units are called profiles. Profiles help show the different layers of soil and the location of some of the artifacts. These are the fundamentals of archaeological excavation.