Combe-Capelle Bas - Site Setup
One of the problems that we faced was that Ami identified five archaeological levels at Combe-Capelle Bas and although the arbitrarily defined Levels II-IV ran along much of the trench, Level I was noted as existing only near the top (upslope) of the trench, while Level V and its subdivisions existed only at the base, nearest the road. Given that not all levels occurred throughout the length of the trench, this created a problem of how to acquire a sample of all of the industries from each of the Levels. The ideal solution would have been to excavate along the entire length of the trench. However, given the length of the trench and the amount of eroded backdirt it contained, this would have involved several more years of excavation. Furthermore, it is not certain that such a connection could be made in the western part of the site that seems to contain most of the industrial sequence. It was decided, therefore, to divide Ami's trench into three sectors and to excavate a limited area within each. The lowest sector, Sector I, was situated to sample the industries of Ami's levels II-V; Sector II to sample Ami's levels II-IV in the middle portion of the trench; and Sector III to sample Ami's level I. Within each of the sectors a number of excavation units ("squares") were defined.
