Page 26 - Loss of the VOC Retourschip Batavia, Western Australia, 1629

Figure14. Theliftingtraymledwithcoralrubbleabouttoberemovedfromthesite.
The excavation proceeded around a lump in the centre of the site about 1 m high centredabout280105. The lump extended about 5 m north-south and 3 m east-west The outer layers were comprised of coraline algae, about 250 mm thick; below this was a harder layer of concreted coral fragments. The southern extremity of the lump consisted mainly of cannon balls, bricks and some animal bones. Further to the north, coins and miscellaneous finds were noted, together with a large number of bricks. Before this area could be cleared, the excavation had to be tenninated for the year.
The fourth season
This season was started in September and proved to be
a very bad period for weather. During the season, only 10 days work was possible on the main site when excavation was continued around the central lump. More cannon balls andsomeothermiscellaneousartefactswereraised.Dueto the bad weather, about 200 diving hours were spent on the inside reef collecting pOllery and searching for new areas of wreck material.
Recording Methods General recording
The record of the progress of the excavation, wind, weather, sea state, diving-log and other associated mallers were recorded in a daily diary. This gave an excellent record of the day-to-day events during the excavation seasons, and was made by one person in a foolscap logbook. Archaeo- logicalnoteswerekeptonthepageoppositetherecordofthe day, IOgether with pholOgraphic data, survey infonnation and technical notes.
The artefacts were recorded in fmds books. Because of the diversity and complexity of the finds, they were re- corded chronologically with an arbitrary prefix number to identify material types, thus: I. Stone; 2. Ceramic; 3. Non- ferrous; 4. Miscellaneous; 5. Coin; 6. Timber; 8. Ferrous. At the end of each day, the small artefacts were registered with a number, the prefiX or fust figure identifying material type, followed by the three or four figures of the catalogue number. The nature of the artefact was entered against its registration numbers in the relevant material list The loca- tion of the find and the date of recovery, together with any other relevant infonnation was also recorded. A dymo tag
with the registration number was attached to or included with theartefacL This tag remained with the artefact through the conservation process. Following conservation, the number was inked onto the object. The system proved to be verypractical.Itisinevitablethatattimesparticularobjects need to be traced to find lheir registration numbers. A random listoftens ofthousands ofartefacts, make this type ofsearch well-nigh impossible, whereas iflhe material type is known, the search is already much simplified. Also, in storage, artefacts are kept together in material types, so that lhe slOrage system tends to be compatible with the record- ing technique.
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