Block recovery

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Block salvage of the foundations of a barrack of the Laagberg satellite camp in stable box constructions

A block recovery or en bloc recovery is the recovery of archaeological findings together with the surrounding soil.

Block salvage is used when a professional uncovering of complicated or sensitive find contexts in the field cannot be accomplished or finds are translocated . Block rescues are also used for excavations that are under great time pressure, so that detailed documentation can be made up later in the laboratory. The findings are exposed, documented and secured for further transport together with the surrounding soil. Smaller blocks are packed in plaster of paris bandages, larger blocks are packed in sturdy box structures. The find is then gradually cleared and documented in a restoration workshop.

Because of the weight and size of the blocks, block salvage of large objects (e.g. entire burials) is very complex and correspondingly expensive, and the necessary infrastructure (lifting equipment, transport vehicles and routes, correspondingly large workshops for subsequent processing, etc.) must be available stand. Therefore, such salvage of larger objects usually only takes place in the case of particularly significant finds, the examination and conservation of which in the laboratory leads to significant new findings.

Block recovery from ceramics

Pictures from an excavation at the Bettelbühl burial mound field in the Herbertingen community with the block recovery of a ceramic vessel:

  • The ceramic is protected with foil.

  • Stabilize the top with two to three layers of plaster of paris bandage

  • Name of the find and its location

  • After turning the block, the bottom is also plastered in.

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