Paleonet: When is it a "dig"?

[Novack-Gottshall, Philip M.]

No idea, although I've never used (or really even heard firsthand
another geologist or paleontologist say) "a dig." And I don't recall
seeing it used in the literature I read this way.

Here's a quick and non-scientific survey using Google Scholar, limited
to articles published since 2000 to limit effort:
Paleobiology: 14 articles, all appear to refer to fossorial behaviors or
some unrelated root (digit, digital, etc.)
J.Paleo: 1 article, both as digit and fossorial digging behavior.
JVP: 41 articles: many as digit or fossorial digging behavior, but
several uses refer to a quarry/excavation/sampleID in the colloquial usage
Palaeontology(and some others with this spelling, such as J. or
Palaeo./Australian J. Palaeo/etc.): 27 articles, all apparently
fossorial/digit/tps-DIG, etc. and non-colloquial

Based on this very cursory examination, it's at least more commonly used
in the colloquial sense in vertebrate articles (although I sense it's
more an informal euphemism said "in the field" rather than written down.)

But this discussion reminds me of another semantic usage I see used
idiosyncratically: a "find." I often hear (and read) the word used as a
noun, as in "we examined the locations of fossil finds in a
stratigraphic section." I sense this is also used more frequently by my
vertebrate (and archeological?) colleagues, where a lot more hinges on
the discovery of a single or closely collected set of fossils, "the"
singular "find" that brings the study to light. But is this another
"cultural" usage? (I have a hang up that I only use the word as a verb,
using "discovery," "collection/sample/fossil", or other term for the noun.)

Cheers,
Phil



On 6/15/2014 8:17 PM, Roy Plotnick wrote:
> Paleofolks:
> As an invertebrate paleontologist, I often tell people I don't go on "digs" but conduct "field work."  I know archeologists use the term "dig," and I often see the term associated with dinosaur work, but I was wondering if anyone has ever discussed when collecting fossils at a locality becomes a "dig."  Is it indeed discipline based?  Comments appreciated - Roy
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 Phil Novack-Gottshall
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