The Wheeler–Kenyon method is a method of archaeological excavation. The technique originates from the work of Mortimer Wheeler and Tessa Wheeler at Verulamium (1930–35), and was later refined by Kathleen Kenyon during her excavations at Jericho (1952–58). The Wheeler–Kenyon system involves digging within a series of squares that can vary in size set within a larger grid. This leaves a freestanding wall of earth—known as a "balk"—that can range from 50 cm for temporary grids, and measure up to 2 metres in width for a deeper square. The normal width of a permanent balk is 1 metre on each side of a unit. These vertical slices of earth allow archaeologists to compare the exact provenance of a found object or feature to adjacent layers of earth ("strata"). During Kenyon's excavations at Jericho, this technique helped discern the long and complicated occupational history of the site. It was believed that this approach allowed more precise stratigraphic observations than earlier "horizontal exposure" techniques that relied on architectural and ceramic analysis.
History A significant inspiration for the Wheeler-Kenyon Method came from Mortimer Wheeler’s mentor Augustus Pitt Rivers. Pitt Rivers was significant for his time in his use of total recording, shifting the focus away from finding ‘treasure’ and towards recording every artefact and making detailed plans and sections of the site However, Bowden points out that Pitt-River’s excavation methods left ‘much to be desired’, with hand-shovelling techniques leaving many small artefacts such as flints and coins left undiscovered in spoil heaps. Therefore, at the time when the Wheelers were beginning their archaeological careers, even the most forward-thinking archaeological methodology was still very different from the methods recognised today. There were two key sites Mortimer and Tessa Wheeler worked on in developing their ‘box-grid’ method; Lydney Park in Gloucester and Verulamium in Hertfordshire. The Lyndney Park Site was a Romano-British Temple Complex and Iron Mine, which had originally been excavated by Charles Bathurst in 1805, but had since become overgrown once again. The Wheelers worked on the site in the Summers of 1928 and 1929, with a full report being published in 1932, titled: Report on the Excavation of the Prehistoric, Roman, and post-Roman Site in Lydney Park, Gloucestershire. The lack of a surviving site archive for the excavation makes it difficult to assess what refinements were made in the Wheeler’s excavation methods at this time. However, the site report makes frequent mention of analysing the phases of occupation using the typological sequences of artefacts, and makes use of vertical section illustrations alongside its horizontal plans. This suggests that at Lyndey Park the Wheelers were beginning to appreciate the importance of recording a site’s stratigraphy in relation to finds, to the point that Carr attributes Lydney Park as the groundwork of the Wheeler-Kenyon Method. The site of Verulamium was extremely important for the refinement of the Wheelers' excavation technique; it was where they practised the ideas they had formed at Lydney Park, ahead of their total synthesis at the site of Maiden Castle. Verulamium also served to spread the Wheelers' methodology among a new generation of archaeologists by using the excavation to train students from the London Museum. This included a young Kathleen Kenyon, who joined the excavation in 1930 and was so invaluable that in 1934 the Wheelers left her in charge of excavating a Roman theatre while they moved to work on Maiden Castle. In the Wheelers' subsequent report on Verulamium, she is credited as having ‘supervised most of the laborious excavation of the ‘Fosse’, and later directed the clearing of the theatre.’ Kenyon’s contribution to the Wheeler Box Grid Method came from her 1952 to 1958 excavation at Jericho in Palestine, where the methodology of the Wheelers finally cemented into the Wheeler–Kenyon method. The Wheeler-Kenyon method was utilised in many archaeological projects active at the time, including by Robert Braidwood's 1949 to 1955 mission at the Neolithic village of Jarmo in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The Wheeler–Kenyon method has faced significant criticism over time, forming a rival school of thought to the advocates of open area excavation. However, there is no doubt that the Wheeler–Kenyon method was a key moment of innovation in archaeological methodology. The method took the step of placing stratigraphy at the centre of excavations, where in previous years, even for innovators such as Pitt-Rivers, it had remained something of an afterthought. Thus, even if it is not used to as great an extent in the modern day, the Wheeler-Kenyon Method remains an important part of archaeological history in the 20th century.
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
