00:00.00 archpodnet Okay, welcome to the show of your one Paul how you doing today. 00:05.23 Paul Um, do pretty good just ah, kind of waiting around to find out what my next assignment is there's a good chance I'm going to be going back to Saudi for a couple months ah in a week or maybe 2 or maybe two days it's It's a little unclear. 00:11.70 archpodnet Eyes Chase it. 00:19.30 Paul But we'll figure it out and I hope that we can get ah you know like we had last summer when I was away that we can get some good interviews and or temporary co-host for you while I'm off because I don't think I'm going be able to co-host at that time how you been Chris. 00:33.18 archpodnet Yeah, well hey, maybe our ah maybe our guest we have today we we didn't ask her this but you know later on we'll ask maybe she'll maybe she'll guest host a couple episodes. Yeah, we'll just we'll just hijack her time. So all right? Yeah no I'm doing great. It's ah °F down here in Sunny Mexico 00:39.31 Paul Um, but just recruited right now. Excellent I Love it. 00:50.16 archpodnet And you know we're we're having a good time just for all those tech nerds out there. Our solar is working amazing. We've got the generator on actually right now. But that's only because our washer and dryer doesn't work on the inverter. We currently have so that's another upgrade we got to do but you know. Totally off-grid for this whole month sitting a couple hundred feet from the beach in Mexico has been pretty awesome because as far south as we are our nearly twelve hundred watts of solar is is plenty to keep us fully charged during the day we have started shutting our inverter off at night just because we lose like 25% sleeping and the only thing it's really running is like the refrigerator and starlink neither of which need to be on when it's getting down to the upper 40 s at night. So you know it's ah super efficient. So we just kill it and then turn it back on in the morning and we only lose like 3% so it's ah it's pretty cool for all you again off-grid. Nerds out there. So all right? So we have a we have a little bit of an update to episode one ninety Four Paul why don't you hit us with that. 01:42.54 Paul Right. 01:50.47 Paul Yeah, so um, got a really lovely email about a week ago from Brent Whitford who was the primary author on the lead author on the article that we discussed in episode 194 and one of the things I brought up was I wasn't quite sure how they got the kind of organic 3 d modeling of the of the various. Strata that they were excavating when they also talked about in that same article about using shape outlines to cut out. Basically the term they use was cookie cutters. Ah, and so amongst other things in the email. He sent me. Ah he explained their ah their methodology and. I I got permission from him to quote directly out of the email he sent that I think would be useful to anybody listening to this that wants to go back and and understand a little more detail how they do such really cool work. So here's the quote it's because we excavate each deposit that is each context stratographically as suggested by Harris. Ah, the true top and bottom of each individual deposit is captured in 1 or more models. We also then have their organic sides modeled such as when we cut them out from a unit model. It captures their actual shape to provide a base example say we make a model in which the top outline of a pit are visible. We then excavate the pit and make another model to capture its sides and bottom then by minusing the model below from the model above. We're left with only the excavated volume of the pit. Um, so it really was I think I questioned I said I think that it's the way that they're digging and basically it's confirming that is the way they're digging and gave me a much more detail about it. 03:11.91 archpodnet Nice. 03:24.65 Paul And we've had a number of emails back and forth really really exciting to have that kind of interaction with somebody to a listener and an author of one of the articles that we were so so proud So happy to to discuss um and then also because I'm pretty well convinced that these guys. 03:25.50 archpodnet Oh yeah. 03:44.26 Paul Dick great I wanted to point out that they also run a couple dicks field schools through the balkan heritage and we'll put the links in the show notes but 1 of them is at that same site in Bulgaria and the other one is a site in in shah hagolan in Israel. 03:50.63 archpodnet Okay. 04:01.26 Paul So we'll put those links in and I think that if you're at the phase of your career where you want to learn how to dig stratographically really well I would you know dollars donuts This is a very good program to get into. 04:12.52 archpodnet Nice, Well, that's pretty cool. Yeah, it's really awesome when we we don't even reach out to the author like we probably should have but we didn't We just talked about the paper and turns out they're either a listener or were it was pointed to it because somebody they know is a listener and that's that's really cool that we've were. 04:19.99 Paul Yeah, whoops. 04:30.50 archpodnet People are hearing it like that. So that's awesome. We really appreciate that. Okay and Paul just a side note for you I added the balkan heritage field schools to the um in the description block on trello just add the links in there underneath that when you get ready. Okay, all right moving on. 04:42.51 Paul Yeah, just putting a note down for myself to do that. 04:49.66 archpodnet Okay, well we are going to get on with our interview but before we do that I'm Goingnna give a short bio of our now. Let me start that over I'm an idiot. Okay me just yes, they'd be a real short bio I'm an idiot. 05:00.61 Paul Yeah, Sharp bio being an idiot I've got a very long bio being idiot. Yeah, oh. 05:09.70 archpodnet Well, yeah, this isn't ah a Cv It's just a bio. You're an idiot. That's all it says. Yeah, all right? So um, all right? So we've got a great interview coming up and we're gonna get to that right now but be for but for. But first here's a short bio of our guest Chelsea Coldwell posh okay insert bio here. Ah, record that later dot dotda dada chelsea you can unmute now you already did that because you're awesome here. We go all right? Chelsea welcome to the show. 05:35.43 Chelsea Pasch Thank you so much Chris and Paul I am so excited to be here. 05:39.40 Paul That What we're having to have you. 05:41.54 archpodnet I mean I expected you to say longtime listener first time interviewee just because you know, ah. 05:49.30 Chelsea Pasch Um, absolutely I am ah just fan girling here and really just really excited to be here I I listen to you guys all the time. 05:49.80 Paul Um. 05:55.58 archpodnet Yeah, all right? Well we're we're here. We're happy to have you on and and excited to talk to you about this this thing that you've been a part of creating and and using and we're going to talk about that a lot. But the reason that we actually started talking about having you on the show is because you reached out to us. Because we interviewed somebody who's done doing something very similar his name's Brian Fritz and his episode link is in the show notes. So go take a look at that. But you were like hey this is great here's what I'm doing and let's talk about it and and so that's what we're gonna do so why don't you just give us a ah. Just tell us what we're talking about what is this machine that you've you've invented then and what does it do let's just get it right out of the way. 06:39.35 Chelsea Pasch Ah, sure and I I love what Brian is doing down in Pennsylvania and so essentially I have a commercialized apparatus that uses ah in a cased auger using our committee screw. 06:45.48 archpodnet Um. 06:55.15 Chelsea Pasch That I apply for archaeological prospection for probabilistic sampling so or test pining on a grid. Um, so essentially this came about um I'm in New Brunswick Atlantic Canada we are not short of you know, deep alluvial sediments. 07:01.62 archpodnet Prison. 07:14.86 Chelsea Pasch Um, deep podsalized soils of our wonderful boreal forest environment and what we've been finding is you know if we can't get through say wetland environments if we hit water table. Um, if the sediments are deeper than one point two meters 07:16.72 archpodnet Mean. 07:34.36 Chelsea Pasch Um I can't convert that for you I am so sorry I am metric all the way. But if we can't yeah it's eleven it be if we can't yeah I don't think it's eleven feet um and um. 07:39.44 archpodnet But Eleven feet 07:46.37 archpodnet Wait you're right? It's not eleven feet wow it's three feet Eleven inches I didn't read the whole thing. Yeah, three feet ah 07:49.66 Paul Um, ah it's about three a half feet 07:53.71 Chelsea Pasch Ah, it's almost four feet so if if we can't if we can't find what we call a sterile cultural bottom or archeological bottom or whatever you want to call it. We have to stop because of occupational health and safety right? You can't dig deeper safely. 07:55.80 Paul Me get 1 08:03.19 archpodnet Yeah. 08:08.90 archpodnet Sure. 08:12.39 Chelsea Pasch by by shovel so we're finding a lot of sites just we're not reaching that bottom to the point where we could actually say that test pit was cleared or not for presence absence so we have this machine currently, we go to 2.9 08:20.20 archpodnet No. 08:30.70 Chelsea Pasch Two point Nine Two meters deep um we do have another version that's going to be able to go um as deep as Brian has been able to go I think he goes seven meters or had gone seven meters but the version um that I have I've been using since 2016 commercially 08:33.99 archpodnet Um, and. 08:40.38 archpodnet Um, well yeah. 08:41.62 Paul Are. 08:50.31 Chelsea Pasch Um, it it has surprising additional applications rather than just deep testing. For instance I can excavate and process a test pit in just about 7 minutes um the the most we've ever done in a day is about 413 09:02.72 archpodnet Just. 09:04.75 Paul Um, father. 09:08.64 archpodnet The. 09:09.88 Chelsea Pasch Um, and we can do peat Bogs Salt Marshes. Um, we can test in the water column or in the seabed or or or riverbed. Um we can. We can dig through concrete for the most part asphalt ah gravel. Um, yeah, So we've kind of found also like great application for contaminated Sediments. So If you're working on say a decommissioned lead smelter or something like that where you definitely don't want to be handling um the contaminated soils This kind of removes. 09:44.94 archpodnet Ah. 09:48.18 Chelsea Pasch People from from the actual whole and you know you can set up processes but we've just found all of these applications. Um, that weren't necessarily what we originally had um, created this for but just kind of like a kismet of of oh yeah, we can totally. 10:07.90 Paul 5 in. 10:07.57 Chelsea Pasch Do that project because the alternative guys is just watching an excavator dig through stuff right? That's monitoring. That's what we're all used to no one's going to tell you that monitoring is the best way to find an archeological site. It's just not so I'm saying hey let's test it let's test it all too deep. 10:11.38 archpodnet Um, yeah. 10:19.23 archpodnet Right. 10:19.46 Paul Are. 10:27.70 Chelsea Pasch Too big. You know you got to do it. You have a tight timeline rescue archeology like we can. We can get it done and we we've shown that we we definitely have. 10:27.32 archpodnet Um. 10:37.78 archpodnet That's that's awesome and impressive the the volume you can do and the the number of basically shovel tests that you can do well Auger tests I guess that you can do or testing ah units So in this first segment I Really want to paint a picture as we talk about the rest of it for the rest of the show. 10:44.16 Chelsea Pasch M. 10:53.25 archpodnet Want to paint the picture of of like what this thing looks like how can you move it so quickly like what what is this thing is it mounted on something and you and you move it around like like tell us what it kind of looks like and and of course if you got some links. Of course we will link to all this in the show notes. So people can click on those and go see what you have but you know for the show here. 10:57.68 Chelsea Pasch E. 11:10.90 Chelsea Pasch Sure I'll paint the the picture as best I can I'll I'll channel my inner author here. So in back close your eyes picture a beautiful cat two Seventy Nine d skid loader 11:10.73 archpodnet What does it look like. 11:15.87 archpodnet Sounds good. 11:27.14 Chelsea Pasch Or skid steer track loader whatever you you call it where you're from it has yes exactly I mean and picture the tracks being landscape tracks What that means is they have a larger footprint. 11:31.59 archpodnet They're all I think about really so go ahead? yeah. 11:42.85 Chelsea Pasch Which minimizes how much weight is distributed on any one point. So my skid steer can actually drive across a golf course without running it or tearing up sod So that's important because there's always this misconception that equipment plus archeology equals. Not not a great look. 11:47.40 archpodnet No, ah. 11:51.83 archpodnet Cheese. 12:01.30 archpodnet Rep. 12:02.62 Chelsea Pasch Um, and for the most part that's true, but um, there are ways to to mitigate that that damage so we have our skid skid steer skid loader um on on that you're going to have a cradle and that cradle has what we call the pumpkin or the planetary driver. Ah, it's a high flow system and then there's a there's 2 arms that hold a tube a cylindrical tube and inside that tube is a specialized auger bit that has flights that are angled just so that. The actual only impact you have on the ground is the edge of the auger that is at at an extreme angle that slices initially into the dirt and then it actually pushes the soil up the auger flights like an escalator. 12:56.58 archpodnet Oh. 12:58.41 Chelsea Pasch So it's not like a screw where you're actually like displacing material or it's not a blender. You're not mixing material. You know we've had you know, essentially peak cores come out of this encased auger system. Um, you know, completely intact. Um. 13:14.79 archpodnet Wow. 13:17.63 Chelsea Pasch The the augur itself. The the case has water jet cut holes that are to our regulatory standard size ah screen of one quarter inch that's the only time you'll hear me use imperial um measurements. And yeah. So essentially what it does. It's sixty Centimeter diameter that's almost two feet so in New Brunswick we actually have very very strict or I guess we would say rigorous regulatory requirements for archeology some would argue. We're probably the most. Ah. 13:42.25 archpodnet Jesus. 13:56.21 Chelsea Pasch Regulated in the the country. Perhaps even the the continent. Um, you know our test pits are 50 by fifty centimeter um they they must go to archeological bottom or water table or that one point two meter cutoff um 14:00.63 archpodnet Oh. 14:15.58 Chelsea Pasch And for the most part, our grids are on five meter or ten meter grids we have a predictive modeling system that we essentially have to ah prove we don't need to test as opposed to um, be subjective in saying why we think testing's required. Ah, default is always to test. Um, so this gets a lot of use the sixty centimeters um is slightly larger than our regulatory requirements. So overt testing is never bad, especially when it doesn't mean more work. 14:48.68 archpodnet Nice. 14:51.82 Paul Um, so ches did did I get this right? then your description of the machinery it sounds to me like even though you're using an auger bit as the the cutting blade. It sounds like you're basically using it for coreing right. 15:01.40 Chelsea Pasch Um. 15:07.76 Paul So that you're not mixing up the materials inside is that and is that a fair description of what you're doing with it. 15:13.36 Chelsea Pasch I Think that's a pleasant side effect. Um that because we do presence absence testing So not necessarily um, getting the you know core perfectly intact because we don't have the system at at this point where we can say open up the encased augur. 15:25.17 Paul Union. Ah. 15:30.55 Chelsea Pasch And see that core intact because what goes in must come out So as we as we bring this material up into this encased auger. There is quite a lovely selection a buffet if you will of different screening methodologies that must be implied. 15:36.40 Paul Um, the thing. 15:48.20 Chelsea Pasch Applied to ah the ah the test pit so you know we we do wet screening. We do mechanical screening. We do hand screening. Um and we even just this year we purchased what we call a drum screener. Um, and it's really it's really about. Ah, trying to mitigate the problems you create when you dig just really deep consistent. That's another wonderful thing about this is every test pit is literally the same size every test pit. There's not going to be a variation between you know, Jimmy and and Bob who dig. 16:19.40 Paul Um, nay. 16:19.14 archpodnet Um, yeah. 16:25.35 Chelsea Pasch Fifty Centimeter test pits but Bob's is 55 and Jimmy's is 37 but you know we're going to get a really consistent ah probilistic sampling grid it. 16:35.69 Paul In. 16:35.74 archpodnet Yeah, or the shapes where one's a bathtub and 1 ne's a point right? and some people can dig good holes and some people can't ah. 16:40.90 Paul Um, but but but. 16:45.16 Chelsea Pasch That's right and you have you always have that one tech that just takes so much pride in the work that you could you could literally you know put that their test pit on the cover of your of your report and then there's the other guys who are just like like you don't know if they were trying to bury a body over the weekend or like. 16:56.89 archpodnet No, right right? All right? Well with that I think we've got a good idea what this thing looks like and what it does let's continue this discussion on the other side of the break back in a minute. 16:59.68 Paul Specifically.