Time Lapse Photography

Roc de Marsal
France

Pech de l'Azé IV
France

Cagny-l'Epinette France

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Daily Time Lapse Photography
See the excavations at Pech IV as they progress throughout the 2002 season. A digital camera automatically takes a photograph at 5 minute intervals and we compile these into an AVI movie and post it here (how we do it).

29 May 2002 (1302k)	The crew moves the wood pile in the dining area at the dig house and puts together the dining tables and benches. Later in the day, they are at the site, uncovering the excavations and constructing the tarp roof over the site.
30 May 2002 (234k)	Scaffolding is built at the site so that excavators can dig in both the upper units and in lower squares in the west section. Problems with the camera in the afternoon resulted in no afternoon photography.
31 May 2002 (761k)	Excavations begin in earnest in the upper units of the west section at the site. The tarp roof is repositioned.
1 June 2002 (1078k)	Today, work in both the upper and lower squares in the western section is underway.
2 June 2002 (1901k)	The crew works in the upper and lower units of the western section in the morning. In the afternoon, serious rock removal is undertaken in the lower area, while excavations in the upper portion continue.
3 June 2002 (2154k)	Excavations continue in the upper and lower areas of the site. Working down below can leave you a bit in the dark, bring on the light, which you'll see switched on about mid-morning.
4 June 2002 (1477k)	It was a dark and stormy day but the crew was hard at work in the upper and lower sections of the site despite the weather. Although it looks like we didn't take a lunch break today, we actually had the camera off until we could replace its batteries.
5 June 2002	Day off.
6 June 2002 (1982k)	Rainy weather makes for dark mornings and a few dark intervals during the day's excavations. We also experimented a bit with our photography, using a wide angle lens that gives a bit more of a fish eye's view of today's activities.
7 June 2002 (2110k)	To change up, we view today's excavations from the side, looking north at the upper portion of the western section. The weather allowed us some sunshine today, so our photos are a bit brighter than yesterday.
8 June 2002 (2122K)	Large boulders in the lower portion of the western section were removed yesterday so that excavations could proceed. Today we see the re-rigging of the scaffolding to accommodate diggers in the lower units, and then a close-up view of an excavator at work.
9 June 2002 (2171k)	The camera is sideways today to look at excavations in the upper portion of the western section. It's a good chance to see the digging fairly close-up.
10 June 2002 (2066k)	We take a very different view of the excavations today, a bird's eye view in fact. Our camera is positioned above the excavations in the lower portion of the western section, near the northern end of the site.
11 June 2002	Day off.
12 June 2002a (1159k)	In the morning, we continue our bird's eye view of the site, but focus in on one unit, D11, in the upper portion of the western section.
12 June 2002b (867k)	Later in the afternoon, efforts are concentrated on removing a large section of roof fall boulders toward the south end of the current excavations. This will allow us to expose significant layers near the bottom of the deposits.
13 June 2002 (1245k)	Boulder removal and careful excavation take place in an area of the site where we appear to have a "living floor" preserved between two rockshelter roof collapses. Photos document the afternoon's activities, as our camera batteries were too low for morning photos.
14 June 2002 (2120k)	A side view of excavations along the northern face of the site is highlighted in today's feature film. In the morning, we get a good view of excavation techniques and of the prism used to shoot in the spatial location of cultural materials. In the afternoon, our view includes more of the two people working in this section of the site.
15 June 2002 (2150k)	Today's feature is the excavation of unit E11. We look down on the diggers as they work during the course of the day. If you watch carefully, you'll see the removal of a portion of a boulder during the afternoon (left side of the movie).
16 June 2002 (740k)	The time lapse film today is a short segment showing excavations in the sediments near the base of the stratigraphy at Pech IV. These deposits contain many episodes of hearth use and are very dark (burnt) in color as a result.
17 June 2002 (2173k)	An angled view into excavations in the upper portion of the western section (on the left) and in the northern section (on the right) are featured today. Just after lunch, the crew photo for the year is taken and you'll see rather a lot of people getting themselves into position along the scaffolding and site in one of the frames.
18 June 2002 (1358k)	We have a view from above looking into the upper portion of the western section of the site. If you look carefully, you'll see one of our excavators (in red shorts) working on an animal scapula (shoulder blade). There is an especially clear view of this bone if you look just above the Gone To Lunch sign at midday. The bone is removed by early afternoon.
19 June 2002	Day off.
20 June 2002 (1502k)	In today's look at the excavation, we continue to watch the digging in the upper portion of the western section. We forgot to put up our Gone to Lunch sign at noon, but we're sure you'll spot when that event occurs.
21 June 2002 (2034k)	The camera is on the lower portion of the western section today. For the first part of the morning, you'll see a couple of people drawing a profile of the lower deposits (crew in red shirt/blue ball cap and in blue shirt/blue shorts). For the rest of the day, we watch excavations in this lower section, which is characterized by numerous hearths (fireplaces).
22 June 2002 (2557k)	We spend a day in the lab back at the dig house today. The first few frames show crew at breakfast, then the day's work begins with washing, labeling, and sorting. You'll also see our lunch time and people relaxing a bit after lunch before work starts up again.
23 June 2002 (1057k)	Back at the site, we watch excavations during the afternoon. The camera is pulled back to give an overview of the progress of the digging in the upper and lower portions of the western section. To the right, you'll see two of the crew working on removing large boulders from rock shelter roof fall.
24 June 2002 (1709k)	The camera is set so that you can see the excavation of the burned layers (Bordes' XYZ) and the operation of the total station. As artifacts are located, the total station is used to measure their spatial coordinates.
25 June 2002 (2082k)	This long time lapse sequence is a close-up of the excavation of two small squares in the burned layers. Though it is difficult to see with the changing lighting, the right side of the right square is a little darker and has been identified as a burn feature. The small plastic bags you see from time to time are for artifacts recorded with the total station.
26 June 2002	Day off.
27 June 2002 (1183k)	The entire crew stayed at the lab this day, and we placed the camera to capture the work that goes on with the computers. Though there are some lighting issues at one point, what you are seeing in the foreground is people processing artifacts as they come through the lab. Mainly they are scanning the field barcodes and printing new lab barcodes that track the object as it moves through the lab.
28 June 2002 (1094k)	This day the camera is back in the field looking at the burned layers. We are excavating them in small portions and in alternate squares so that we can leave as many vertical sections as possible. The burn features are much easier to identify and follow in these sections.
29 June 2002 (1586k)	Today we see a close-up view of excavations in the upper portion of the western section of the site. You can see the use of the prism to shoot in the spatial coordinates of the stone artifacts and animal bones. Plastic bags are used to house each piece after it is shot in using the Total Station.
30 June 2002 (1455k)	We feature the same area of the site today as we did yesterday, but take a look at the excavations there from the opposite direction. Again, you'll spot the use of the prism and see the artifacts bagged once they're shot in with the Total Station.
1 July 2002 (1626k)	The camera is pulled back today to give more of an overview of the excavations. We see the western section of the site to the right, excavations in the southern section in the foreground, and digging in the hearth layers at the bottom of the deposits at the site to the upper right.
2-4 July 2002	Three day break.
5 July 2002 (1979k)	Today we take a look at excavations in the southern section of the site. The crew excavate some sediment with cultural materials, then remove another boulder from rockshelter roof fall. Below this boulder, we found another "living floor" with many more artifacts than were present on the earlier occupation surface that we found.
6 July 2002 (1625k)	We watch the excavations today from the perspective of the Total Station operator, with the camera positioned just behind and above. The crew can be seen working in the upper and lower portions of the western section, and in the southern section.
7 July 2002 (2003k)	The camera records excavations in the upper portion of the western section of the site today. The view is slightly angled.
8 July 2002 (1591k)	We feature a completely different view of our project today by showing the activities in our kitchen during the afternoon. Chef Dan prepares our evening meal. Watch closely and you'll see him and one of our crew prepare their own versions of tiramisu for our third "bake-off" competition. Near the end of the clip, you'll see the two pans of tiramisu before they were devoured by the crew.
9 July 2002 (1032k)	The afternoon at the site is shown in this clip. You can follow the crew in the foreground excavating in the southern section. Quite a bit of boulder removal by drilling occurs, as well as regular digging.
10 July 2002 (1932k)	We take a similar look at the crew excavating in the foreground, although from a slightly closer position and slightly different angle. There's a fair amount of drilling in the afternoon to remove roof fall boulders and straighten the south wall of the section.
11 July 2002	Day off.
12 July 2002 (1920k)	The camera is pulled back a bit today to give more of an overview of digging at the site. You'll see that we have visitors just before lunch and another group after lunch. The group after lunch includes someone who excavated at Pech IV in 1974.
13 July 2002a (2126k)	We're back for an angled look at excavations in the upper part of the western section today. Our geologist (pink shirt) is taking sediment samples at the far end of the section in the afternoon.
13 July 2002b (1232k)	Our second film this day is a short clip showing various aspects of excavation. It's filmed with sound. This is an .mpg file and will play using your Windows Media Player. Enjoy.
14 July 2002 (2234k)	A bird's eye view of today's activities at the site is the theme. We take a look at excavations in the southern section of the site, as well as lithic analysis at the table, and some shooting in of artifacts and bones by the total station operator.
15 July 2002 (1375k)	In the afternoon, we watch the crew excavate in the upper portion of the western section. It was a very dark day with lots of cloud cover and the crew occasionally had to use a flashlight to help the total station operator locate the prism.
16 July 2002 (1053k)	A half-day's close-up view of excavations in the upper portion of the western section is the subject matter for today. You'll see artifacts laid out on barcode labeled plastic bags as they are shot in with the total station.
17 July 2002	Day off.
18 July 2002 (757k)	The camera takes today have the southern section of the excavations in the foreground and the western section of the site in the background. We see a portion of the afternoon's work in this daily movie.
19 July 2002	Sorry, no daily photos were taken today,
20 July 2002 (1746k)	Our view of the excavations today is of the upper portion of the western section. We have a relatively close-up shot of the crew working there.
21 July 2002 (2074k)	The camera records our last day of excavation for this season at the site. We take a quite close-up view of the crew working in the upper portion of the western section.
22 July 2002 (2506k)	We take a look at activities in the lab today, including lunch. People are labeling the last of the artifacts from the field, sorting the wet screened materials, washing stone artifacts and animal bones, and doing lithic analysis.
23 July 2002 (1370k)	Today is our last day of the 2002 field season. Most of the crew was in the lab, and we show the activities there: finishing lab tasks in the morning, eating lunch, and beginning camp clean-up in the afternoon, with just a bit of lab work to finish off some odds and ends.