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5 or other remains overlying them, which appear undisturbed, may suddenly collapse, destroying what stratigraphic evidence had survived above the tunnel. The existence of such pits is also dangerous because not only has the original stratigraphical sequence in them been disturbed but also because through them extraneous pottery from graves came up and all kinds of abreda earlier and recent are found in the soil which now fills them. As a rule such pits are easily detected both in the vertical and horizontal examination but in some of the older one, which were perhaps dug before the British Museum excavations, the soil has settled so well that the filling may elude the digger.
In order to avoid possible contamination we isolated the pits as soon as each was detected. All digging found the pit was discontinued and work proceeded within the pit with the removal of its filling, thus making its limits clear to the workmen. Once the level of the pit was one or two feet below the surrounding level, work was resumed in the undisturbed layers and so on. This had the advantage of keeping all pits … continues
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