Paleonet: When is it a "dig"?

[Roy Plotnick]

Try to Google "Dinosaur dig" and a lot of sites, some professional, come up:
http://paleobiology.si.edu/dinosaurs/interactives/dig/dinodig.html

So - it this just pandering to the public?  

- Roy
On Jun 16, 2014, at 7:26 PM, Weil, Anne wrote:

> I think the question reflects a basic confusion between archeology and paleontology.  Dictionary definitions notwithstanding, "dig" as a noun usually refers to archeological excavation.  When I explain this I almost always get in answer, "What is the difference between archeology and paleontology?"
> 
> Anne
> ________________________________________
> Anne Weil, Ph.D.
> Dept. of Anatomy and Cell Biology
> Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences
> 1111 W. 17th St.
> Tulsa, OK 74107
> 
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Paleonet [mailto:paleonet-bounces at nhm.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Novack-Gottshall, Philip M.
> Sent: Monday, June 16, 2014 8:54 AM
> To: PaleoNet
> Subject: Re: Paleonet: When is it a "dig"?
> 
> 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 _______________________________________________
>> Paleonet mailing list
>> Paleonet at nhm.ac.uk
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>> 
>> 
> 
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