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Cemetery work

Fig. 25. Mounds, at Yehudiyeh.

Cemetery work

Fig. 26. Sarcophagi, Abydos.

For moving earth to a distance there is no way so simple and adaptable as a line of carrier boys (Fig.22). Over flat ground this is the best way up to distances of 50 or 100 yards; for longer discharges it may be better to lay down a light railway and use trucks. The line of boys is the only practicable way if the stuff has to be carried up a slope to discharge, or taken over irregular paths out of the work, as is often the case. The railway needs much time for rearranging different points of collection and discharge; and must be in duplicate, or else the work will be at a stand-still during rearrangement. A boy will carry 20 to 30 lbs. in a load, about 20 journeys an hour for 100 yards discharge, thus moving about 2 tons a day. So the cost is about a piastre a cubic metre for shifting 100 yards.

Turning over.

But far the more economical and rapid work is that of turning over whenever practicable. If a site has not been often rebuilt upon, the way is to start by a long clearance at one edge; and then a line of men steadily cut from one side of the trench and throw back on the other (Fig.24), so that the trench moves across the whole site, and every pound of earth is turned over. Each man needs a frontage of between 4 and 6 metres in width; and the trench, if open along, should have a clear bottom of at least 2 metres, from back to front of the work. More usually it is worked in compartments, each man clearing about 4 metres square, and throwing into his previous hole; each hole is then gauged when empty and the pay assessed. If a town is cleared (Fig.23), then it is done chamber by chamber, each being emptied over the wall into the previous chamber. The corners of the chambers can just be left visible for making a plan afterwards. A great advantage of this way is that the ground is finally left covered, so there is no great waste heap, and the walls are all covered over again to save them from future destruction.