Why Not?

A question of trowels

More a fable, maybe, for archaeologists; a series of questions about trowel choice, what makes one good or bad, and what guides the final choice.

Suppose you were working on an away site, or more precisely a site, far, far, away; maybe in a country unfamiliar to you and the rest of the excavation team. Let's say Ghana.

Then through an unfortunate incident you suffer a loss of trowels and have to venture out to purchase some new ones. After looking around a few hardware shops, you find one that will do the job. It isn't the same as the preferred trowel you and the team have been using for years, but you cannot find anywhere to purchase an identical replacement, so money changes hands and back you go to the excavation with your new trowels.

Using this new trowel is initially uncomfortable – the handle is a different shape, the blade angles are different, and so is the weight and balance. These differences are enough to start making your hand feel sore, maybe even causing a blister, and it is different enough to slow you down and even to force a few mistakes. That said, after a few hours it doesn't feel so bad; after a few days the new trowel feels OK and allows you to do a reasonable job.

Let's call this replacement trowel “The Ghana Trowel”.

Now on another dig far, far away, you again suffer an unfortunate loss of trowels. This time you are in Malaysia, and the only trowel you can find is quite different, downright unusual in appearance and feel. But someone on the team knows how to use this particular trowel well. It turns out to be adjustable with a bit of effort, in fact so adjustable that with time and the help of the expert in the group and a few people she knows, this Malaysian trowel can be customised to the point that it encompasses all the best aspects of any trowel you ever used, with no drawbacks; it promises to become more or less the platonic ideal of trowels.

Let's call this one “Trowel of Malaysia”.

Yet another far far away dig, yet another unfortunate loss of trowels (this repeated loss of trowels is starting to sound a little careless...). Trowels available here, Washington State in the USA, are the same make as your preferred trowel but are a new, very shiny, replacement model and come in terribly stylish boxes. A pretty good trowel in use, a step forward from its predecessor, the old preferred trowel, but the handle design is so very, very shiny the trowel can only be used in conjunction with a special glove, only available from the same manufacturer.

Let's call this “Trowel USA”.

Now let's suppose that the preferred trowel costs £12, and The Ghana Trowel costs £10. Would you decide that from that point on you would only buy the new trowel?

What if the preferred trowels cost £12 and Trowel of Malaysia costs £12. Would you consider changing?

Trowel USA costs £12, the glove another £2. A worthwhile option?

What if the preferred trowels cost £100, its successor, Trowel USA (including glove) £200, The Ghana Trowel £80 and Trowel of Malaysia was completely free. Which would you choose then?

Now substitute any given software package for the trowels...

Posted at 10:18AM Feb 21, 2008 by Chris Puttick in Open Archaeology  |  Comments[2]