Nikumaroro: Challenges to Doing Archaeology - 5

Screening (sifting, sieving) is relatively ineffective, because this is what you're confronted with once you've filled your screen.

In 2010, we used screens only as a backup, finding that it was more efficient, and that we actually could be more confident of finding things (even very small things) through straightforward troweling.

Bottom line:  Nikumaroro isn't exactly a HARD place to do archaeological fieldwork, but it is an extremely SLOW place to do it, and artifacts, bones, and other items of interest don't exactly leap out at one.