#144 How to Start a Consulting Business, Part 1

In 1000 Easy Steps...

Sure, there are lots of resources for starting a small business.

Starting an archaeological consulting firm, however, has it’s own set of challenges. I wish I wasn’t doing this by myself so someone else could shoulder some of the responsibilities but that’s not the case. It’s likely that I’ll make mistakes along the way and I hope they aren’t big ones. Maybe my experiences can help someone else go through this process with a little less pain and suffering.

Order of Steps

Starting a company is going to be different for everyone and depends upon where you are starting and what you want to do. First, you need to decide what your company is going to do. Out here in the Great Basin you have the option to just do survey and not do any ground disturbing activities. We generally don’t do shovel tests on Phase I surveys. Having a survey permit from the BLM is easy and requires little gear. Generally all you’ll need are pin flags and safety equipment. Vehicles, sub-meter GPS’s and other electronics can all be rented. As a company that focuses on surveys you might not even need formal office spaces. In the world of Archaeology 2.0 most activities outside of fieldwork can be cloud based, so, save money, be green, and dump the office cubicle model. If you absolutely need storage space just rent a storage unit. They’re cheap and easy to get.

If you want to bid on testing and excavation projects you’re likely going to need a lot more equipment. There aren’t generally any places to rent that stuff from, either. Although, that may change for some places in the near future. More on that later. Doing excavations will also mean having lab and storage space.

Since I’m starting a survey only company for the time being that’s what I’ll focus on for this post.

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Permits

Out here in Nevada you need to get a Nevada State Museum (NSM) Antiquities permit and a Cultural Resource Use Permit (CRUP) from the BLM. I wanted to get those out of the way right away since you can’t do anything else without them. What I didn’t know was what the BLM was going to require of me. More on that in a minute.

The NSM permit is pretty easy to get as long as you meet the requirements and have experience as an archaeologist. I applied for one and had the permit a week later. It’s also free.

The BLM permit is a bit more difficult. At my last company I was on their permit as a Principal Investigator for both prehistoric and historic resources statewide. So, naturally, I thought it would be easy getting my own permit from the BLM. Not so much. I filled out the application and submitted it with my CV, my NSM permit, a curation agreement for artifacts (also from the NSM) and a supplemental page detailing the type of company I have, or plan to have.

Since I’ve never held my own CRUP before the BLM wants to see some sort of proof that I’m serious about having a real company and that I’m not some quack with a degree trying to mess up arch sites in the Basin (I will delete any comments relating to this statement. You were warned.). So, I’m about to give them all the things I’m going to talk about next. Then, they’ll sign off on the permit.

To Incorporate or Not to Incorporate

That’s not the only question. There are a few ways you can go when forming a company. There is a sole proprietorship, a partnership, a Limited Liability Company, a C-Corporation and an S-Corporation. Since I’m not a lawyer I’m not going to tell you which one to choose. What I will tell is to do your homework and check out each option. They all provide a level of protection should you get sued or cause a bunch of damage to a client’s site. Attend a SCORE class. They are free and can be found nation wide. I chose to go with an LLC because it provides me the level of protection that a small company like mine needs.

You can, and should, have a lawyer set up the paperwork for whatever type of company you choose. Since I’m setting this up as frugally as possible I did my own research. Here in Nevada there is a state website for setting up companies and obtaining business licenses. It’s called Silver Flume (I know, right?) and it’s real easy to use. I was able to set up the LLC, apply for a State Business License, and get an Employer Identification Number (EIN) all in about 30 minutes. The cost to set up the LLC was a total of $200. It was $75 to Charter the LLC and $125 to submit the list of officers (which has to be done within 30 days and since I’m the President, Owner, Principal Investigator, Report Writer, Project Archaeologist, Field Technician, and Janitor it was easy).

If you are worried that your LLC (or whatever you chose) isn’t set up right because you did it yourself, don’t worry. You can always have a lawyer look over the paperwork and make any changes later when you have more money. As soon as I have a few contracts behind me and some money in the bank I plan to have a lawyer look over all of my documents.

Business Licenses

Notice the plural: business licenses. Here in Nevada you have to start with the State Business License. The application is easy and can be done on the Silver Flume website. The cost was $200.

After the state license, you also need a city license and county license for wherever your business is located. The costs vary, depending on where you are. Here, it’s another $200 total for my current city and county. An additional challenge for a statewide consulting firm is the need for business licenses in other cities and counties. If I land a contract in, say, Elko County, I’ll need to contact the county and get a business license quickly. The turnaround is fast and the BL should be less than $200. The good thing is that most BLs are good for at least one year.

Employer Identification Number

This is the easy one. You can get an EIN from the IRS quickly and for free on their website. You need the EIN to pay taxes and to pay employees. If you don’t know what an EIN is, it’s the number on the W-2 you get from an employer that you have to put down in the tax software that you use. I got mine on the Silver Flume website while I was doing the business license and the LLC Charter.

That’s enough for this post. Check back in a future post for the remaining steps in the process, including writing a Business Plan, setting up insurance, and doing all those little things that you take for granted at other, established, companies.

Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the field!

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#123 Shovelbums Guide Part 17: Township and Range

Here's another long-awaited installment of my Shovelbums Guide Series.  If this post helps you or increases your knowledge in anyway please repost or give it a retweet.  Thanks!

Archaeologists on the West coast, in many of the plains and central states, Alaska, and Hawaii are likely familiar with the Township and Range system.  Here in the Great Basin and in surrounding states the “legal location” of a project area or an individual site is given in quarter quarter sections using the Township and Range System.  But, what is the system and where do we get coordinates like T17N, R15E, Mount Diablo Meridian?  Well, I’m glad you asked.  I’ll start with a short history of the rectangular survey system, also known as the Public Lands Survey System (PLSS).

The PLSS was originally proposed by Thomas Jefferson.  It began after the Revolutionary War ended and the Federal Government became responsible for massive areas of land west of the original thirteen colonies.  The government wanted to distribute land to Revolutionary War soldiers in reward for service and they wanted to sell land as a way to raise money.  Before this could happen the land needed to be surveyed.

Two laws helped create the PLSS as we know it today (well, up until 1973, anyway).  The Land Ordinance of 1785 provided for the systematic survey and marking of public lands.  Apparently it took two years to figure out how to actually accomplish that because in 1787 the Northwest Ordinance established a rectangular survey system to give coordinates to the land parcels.  The PLSS has been in continuous use since 1785 and is the basis for most land transfers and ownership today.  The current procedures for accomplishing the PLSS were set down in the Manual of Instructions for the Survey of the Public Lands of the United States in 1973.

Not all land was included in the survey.  Lands not surveyed included beds of navigable bodies of water, national installations (military, parks, etc.), and land grants already in private ownership.

According to the Bureau of Land Management’s website almost 1.5 billion acres have been surveyed for the PLSS to date.  The BLM is the record keeper for over 200 years of survey information, which often includes the original surveyor's notes and hand-drawn maps.

Now that we know how it started, let’s talk about exactly what the PLSS is and how we get to township and range coordinates.

As stated above, the PLSS is used to divide public land.  Since the system was started after the Revolutionary War it mostly only applies to new land that was acquired after that time.  That’s why none of the thirteen original states were included: there was little public land left.

States included in the Survey

The PLSS divides land into 6-mile square townships.  The townships are then divided into 36 sections.  The sections can then be divided into half, quarter, and quarter quarter sections.  It may not make sense that the quarter quarter sections aren’t 1/16 sections but once you write it out and use the system it seems to work.  The sections are number starting in the northeastern corner and continue right to left.  The numbers snake down going left to right (7 through 12) in the second row then back the other direction and so on.  The section numbers end at 36 in the southeastern corner.  Each section is usually 640 acres or one-mile by one-mile square.  It makes it really easy to do block surveys in the West, that’s for sure.

The township and range coordinates are based on regional meridians and baselines, 37 of them.  Range is designated east and west of the Principle Meridian for the region and Township is designated north and south of the baseline.  When reporting the location of a parcel of land using township and range it’s necessary to include the Principle Meridian.  For much of California and all of Nevada the Principle Meridian runs through Mt. Diablo in California.  So, a proper land designation for somewhere in Nevada would be, Nevada, Mt. Diablo Meridian, Township 21N, Range 15E, Section 35.

Regions, Principle Meridians, and Baselines

There are several areas of the country where this system is different for various reasons.  In Ohio and Indiana, where the surveys started, the townships are 6 miles square.  The surveys are named, but the names are not named based on the principle meridians, and the numbering system and starting points are different.  In Louisiana things really get crazy.  They are based on parcels of land known as arpent sections and they pre-date the public surveys.  An arpent measures 192 feet and a square arpent, confusingly called an arpent, is about 0.84 acres.  The parcels are designed to give settlers living on waterways beachfront property and tillable, farmable land.  So, they are oddly shaped.  French arpents were two to four arpents wide and 40 to 60 arpents deep.  Spanish arpents were 6 to 8 arpents wide and 40 arpents deep.  Section numbers frequently exceed 36.  I can’t continue.  It’s just too crazy.  If you plan to work in Louisiana find out how it all works.  You’ll be smarter and happier for it.

The Ohio Situation

The Townships of the French Arpent System

Now you should be an expert on the public land survey system.  When someone says the site is located in T17N, R15E of the Mt. Diablo Meridian you’ll know what that means.  I’ll admit that I was out in the West for quite a while before I really knew what the township and range system really meant.  Find out where your principle meridian originates from and impress your friends.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you in the field.

#96 Shovelbums Guide Part 16.2: Pace and Compass Maps

Welcome to Part 2!  If you didn’t read Part 1, click here.  On to drawing a sketch map.

Supplies for mapping: Pencil (0.9 mm for boundaries and natural features); Pencil (0.5 mm for details); Ruler with 180 degree measurementsOnce you have all of your measurements it’s time to sketch them out on graph paper.  One of the most difficult decisions to make is where to put the datum and what scale to use so that the entire site fits on the map.  It can be a bit frustrating but you’ll learn over time how to do it with fewer mistakes.  You’ll need some special skills for putting the points on the map too.  You might also want a clear protractor or a round, 360 degree, translucent scale with a straight ruler attached to the center point.  I have an engineering scale to use for distance.  Keep in mind that the squares on the graph paper are not going to work for scaling your drawing.  The scale will be determined by what ever method you choose and whatever fits best.  I find which scale on my 6-sided engineering scale works best for the site and then draw my scale on the page to fit that measurement.

After putting points on the map, including the datum, draw your boundary using nice, rounded corners.Put the points on the map in the order that you took them.  Draw the datum point first.  Then measure the number of paces that match your scale to the North and draw a point.  Next, find the next bearing and measure the appropriate distance.  When all the boundary points are done, draw in your boundary.  Next, graphically draw in your features and artifacts.  By graphically, I mean draw the center point and then illustrate the feature around it (WARNING: you may need to learn to draw what you see around you!).  The last thing I draw on a sketch map are the landforms, prominent vegetation (i.e. trees and other significant natural features), rock outcrops, stream beds, and whatever else makes sense.  The last thing, and sometimes the most difficult thing, that I draw are the topographic lines.  Some people have a difficult time representing hills, ridges, and drainages topographically.  This just takes practice.  Look at a topo map while you are out in the field.  Understand what you are seeing on the map and apply it to the landscape around you.  Sometimes, while out on survey, I try to visualize drainages, mountains, and ridges as though they had topo lines on them.  Try it sometime.

Completed map. I added rock outcrops (which, since I drew this before I had my coffee, I forgot to put on the legend), a few artifacts, and topo lines.The level of detail in the finishing touches on your map will likely be determined by how anxious your crew chief is to get out of there and on to the next site.  At a minimum you will need a north arrow, a scale, a data block, and a legend.  The north arrow, for some people, is like a signature.  I’ve seen all sorts.  Some people like to design fancy ones and some use just a generic arrow.  Make it your own.  The scale is based on the scale of your map.  Again, I’ve seen everything from fancy and detailed to generic.  Do what you think best fits the site and your company.  The data block contains all the site information.  At a minimum it usually contains the site number, the date, the company name, the words “site sketch map” or something equivalent, the datum coordinates, your name, and the date.  The legend should contain every symbol that’s on the map.  If you put it on the map then put it in the legend.

Detail shot of my legend. There's many ways to do this and your company might have a specific way to do it.The last thing you need to do is pretty simple.  Take your map off your clipboard, fold it up, and put it in your pocket because many companies simply aren’t drawing paper sketch maps anymore and this was all in your head.  Go back to sleep.

Still drawing sketch maps on paper?  Send me some of your favorite creations (blocking out location data, of course) and I’ll put a collection of them up here.  I worked with a person a few years ago that didn’t draw sketch maps: he drew works of art.  They were absolutely amazing and had amazing detail.  It didn’t take him all day either.  Decades of field work had honed his skills and he was quick and efficient.

Send me your thoughts on this topic.  I’d like to know if there are large companies that are still taking the time to do a quality sketch map or if it’s just the ones that don’t want to pay thousands of dollars for a good GPS.  

Keep sketching...I”ll see you in the field.

#95 Shovelbums Guide Part 16.1: Pace and Compass Maps

I split this topic into two posts.  Part 1 covers taking coordinates for a pace-and-compass sketch map and Part 2 covers the mapping.  Enjoy.

Many projects these days use a sub-meter GPS to record sites and nothing else.  It’s actually been a little while since I had to “pace and compass” a site map.  Until about June of last year I worked for a company here in the Great Basin that uses Garmin GPS Map 62s to map sites!  Those GPSs are NOT sub-meter and the accuracy leaves something to be desired.  I wouldn’t have minded so much, as long as we still did a pace-and-compass map as well.  So, for those of you that are new in this field and only did a pace-and-compass map in field school or have never done one at all, this post is for you.  First, though, why do it?

Last summer and fall I was working for a company that uses a sub-meter GPS to map sites.  It was running ArcPad software which allows you to make a fairly accurate representation of the site.  However, some things just aren’t intuitive if you’ve never had to draw out the site.  I’m not sure why that is but it is.  For example, this person I had on my crew always had to be told to record the courses of the drainages and to mark things like large rock outcrops.  You wouldn’t even think to leave these details off of a hand-drawn sketch map.  What is the easiest way to draw a sketch map?  Pace and compass.  Let’s get into it.

The first thing you need to know is what the length of your pace is.  Your pace is something you probably already know from doing surveys.  For those of you that don’t, here is how you do it.  First, find a straight stretch of uninterrupted ground like a road or parking lot.  Next, roll out 30 m from a roll-up tape measure.  Now, simply walk at a normal speed, without stretching out your stride, and count the number of steps it takes to get to the end.  You might want to do this several times so you can take an average.  This number is your pace.  I’m about 6’1” and my pace is about 43 steps.  I have freakishly short legs.  I know some tall people that have a pace under 30 steps!  Still, some people like to shorten or lengthen their stride to make it exactly 30 steps.  I would say that you should do what ever you are comfortable with as long as you are relatively accurate and consistent.

My supplies: A Brunton Eclipse Compass, a pencil, and a Write-in-the-rain notebook.OK.  Now that you have your pace, it’s time to get your map supplies together.  Before we start drawing the map, however, you will need some other supplies first.  To gather the data for your map you will need a notebook (or smartphone for you tech savvy people), a pencil, and a compass.

Now, the first thing you have to realize is that not every site is going to be mapped the same way.  For example, if you have a large lithic scatter with no tools and no features you may just want to accurately map the boundary, a few flakes and natural features, and that’s it.  On the other hand, if you have a mining site with prospect pits, shafts, refuse piles and whatever, you may want to first map the features then simply draw the boundary around them.  Basically, you have to figure out what your boundary is being created by.  It might be that your boundary is being created by a project APE (Area of Potential Effect), pipeline corridor, or some other artificial boundary.

Now we are ready to take some measurements.  There are two ways that I can think of that are accurate and easy.  First I’ll illustrate the way I was trained.  You start by picking an arbitrary point in the center of the site, usually the datum (the datum isn’t always in the exact center of the site and may be a large boulder or tree).  However, out here in the West (well, Nevada.  Actually, northern Nevada.  I don’t know what they do down south) we are no longer putting in a solid datum on the site (i.e. a wooden stake or a length of rebar).  It’s being done electronically in the office.  So in that case I would probably pick a natural feature, such as a large rock or a tree, or I would simply put a group of pin flags in the ground where I plan to start.  Once you have your starting point it’s time to take your first measurement.

These are actual measurements that I took on a project a few years ago.If I have clearly defined boundaries then it’s usually easier for me to take my first measurement going North.  On your notepad you can start by just writing datum (or tree, pin flags, or whatever) on the top line.  Using your compass (set to the proper declination) find north and pace to the boundary.  If you don’t have a boundary and are simply using features, skip to the next paragraph.  After you’ve paced to the boundary, write down the distance and bearing to your point from the datum on the next line in your notebook.  It will look like this: “12@0°”.  I usually walk counterclockwise (anti-clockwise for you folks across the pond) so I’ll sight in my next point and walk to it.  Write that distance and bearing in your notebook.  It might look like this: “15@275°”.  Make your way around the entire site back to that first point you took North of the datum.  That’s the boundary!  Next you’ll want to take points on all the numbered artifacts, features, and what ever else your crew chief wants you to.  On small, manageable sites (50 x 50 or so) I take all of those points as distance and bearing measurements from the datum.  On larger sites you may have to just do what ever makes sense.

Mapping a site using features or numbered artifacts can be done a number of different ways.  If you don’t have many features or artifacts you can simply take distance and bearing measurements from the datum for every point.  Once you draw in the features and artifacts you can simply draw a line around the site.  There are other ways to do it too.  You just have to decide what makes sense for that site.

I’ve split this blog post up into two posts.  I like to stay at or under 1,000 words for each post and this one was getting a bit long.  Click here for Part 2.

#94 Shovelbums Guide Part 15: The Smithsonian Trinomial System

When I was on my first professional archaeological dig with a CRM company I saw many things that puzzled me.  The first one was the grid they had set up.  I didn’t understand why they weren’t using latitude and longitude.  At that point I’d never heard of a UTM coordinate.  What kind of crazy system measures in meters and gives a unit coordinate of 1057 mE / 1062 mN?  Ah, the naiveté of inexperience.

The other thing that no one ever bothered to explain was the nationwide numbering system used for sites in the United States.  It just looked like an indecipherable string of numbers with an underlying structure that I just could’t make out.  Even if you’re relatively new in the field you’ve seen the numbers.  They look like this:

26WA12477--------9PM201-----------23AR9236------------8MD1

------------50TX3546-------------12TN30-----------32GNA3476

Recognize them now?  What do they mean?  I’m going to cut to the chase for the *tl;dr* crowd.  The first number represents the state, the letters are a two-digit code (sometimes three) for the county, and the last numbers represent the number of sites that have been recorded in that county.  When you ask your state archaeologist for a site number, the last set of numbers will represent the total number of sites recorded within that county (give or take a few - you may not have checked your email before they issued more numbers to someone else).

The state numbers run from 1 to 50.  The District of Columbia, American Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, the Marshall Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands do not get a number (who knew we had so many territories?).  The numbers mostly go in alphabetical order.  The exceptions are Alaska (49) and Hawai’i (50).  They weren’t states when the system was devised.

The Smithsonian Trinomial number was devised and perfected over a number of years by the Smithsonian’s River Basin Survey (RBS).  The RBS operated in a number of states and needed a comprehensive system of designating new sites.  The River Basin Survey started in 1946 and by the end of fiscal year 1947 in the Missouri Basin, 376 sites in seven states had been recorded.  Paul Cooper, an RBS staff member, was instrumental in devising the first incarnations of the system between 1946 and 1947.  The early system was based on an even earlier system that was used in Nebraska during the 1930s for WPA (Works Progress Administration) projects.  Other states were using a system similar to Nebraska for WPA fieldwork but none were identical.  Carl Miller, also an RBS staff member, added county codes for several southeastern states in 1958.  He was following some state universities and historical societies that had already incorporated the county code.

Although the RBS program ended in 1967, individual SHPOs continued to assign site numbers based on the Smithsonian Trinomial System.  Now, all fifty states issue site numbers [see the update below] a number of states issue site numbers using that system.  A lot of spatial data can be determined just by being able to decode the Smithsonian Trinomial.  Think about it.  Without knowing anything about a site you can narrow its location down to the county level in a matter of minutes.  I wish everything in archaeology worked so well and was so universally accepted.

I’d like to thank Rose Chou from the National Anthropological Archives (I didn’t even know such a thing existed) at the Smithsonian Institution in Maryland for contributing most of the information in this post.  I attempted, several times, to find historical information online about this subject but came up empty handed.  Believe it or not, it’s not even on Wikipedia.  If I had a hard source for this post (aside from an email) I’d write the entry.  Maybe someday.

Hope you’re smarter now!

See you in the field.

Update on 2012-03-28 14:43 by ArcheoWebby

As usual, nothing is actualy universal in archaeology.  I've recieved comments on Linked In and right here (see below and thanks Roger!) about two states that don't use the Smithsonian Sysytem.  California (I should have know, I've worked there recently) uses a similar system but they made it their own.  The format is "CA - [3-letter county code] - [sequential site number]". 

New Mexico, as Roger stated below, uses the "LA" system from the Laboratory of Anthropology (at the University of New Mexico, perhaps?).  Roger says that a few agencies, government agencies, use the Smithsonian system but most of the state uses the LA system.

Anyone else?  Let's build a comprehensive database of states and the site numbering systems they use.  I'll use those data in an upcoming project that will benefit new and old archaeologists alike.  Sorry about the "old".

#93 Shovelbums Guide Part 14: Munsell Book of Colors

My first experience with the Munsell Book of Color was on a dig in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, Africa, during my field school.  The field director asked me to Munsell a profile and I had no idea what he was talking about.  He then told me that it was a British thing.  They always Munsell soil samples and profiles.  I later learned that it is not, of course, a British thing.  Still not sure why he said that.

This post is for people that use Munsell Color Books everyday and also for those that have never heard of it.  Honestly, I never really understood what the different pages really meant and what the value and the chroma are.  Maybe you learn that in art class but I haven’t had an art class since second grade.  For those of you that know everything, here is an Indiana Jones / Cat thing.  For everyone else, prepare to geek out.

Figure 1. Munsell Hue ChartThe Munsell color system specifies colors based on three dimensions: hue, value, and chroma.  For non-art majors, I’ll explain what these are.  Hue is defined as “the degree to which a stimulus can be described from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow”.  Other definitions state that hue is a “pure” color without tint or shade.  In the Munsell system there are five principle hues: Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Purple.  There are five intermediate hues which create a total of 10 hues which are then broken up into 10 more hues each for a total of 100 hues.  Those hues are given values.  Figure 1 illustrates where the popular hues, the few that archaeologists typicaly use, lay on the color wheel.

Figure 2. Munsell Value ChartThe next metric, value, refers to the lightness of a color.  In the Munsell system it is measured vertically from a value of 0 (black) to 10 (white).  The colors from black to white, including the various shades of gray in-between, are called neutral colors.  All other colors are called chromatic colors.  We’ll see why below.

Figure 3. Munsell Chroma ChartThe third metric, chroma is measured from the center of color system, horizontally, and represents a color’s purity.  A lower chroma is washed out, such as in pastels, and a higher chroma is brighter.  There isn’t necessarily an upper limit for chroma.  Some hues have a higher potential chroma than others.  For example, light yellow colors have a higher potential chroma than light purples do because of the nature of the human eye and the physics of color stimuli.  Normal reflective materials have a chroma into the low 20s while some fluorescent materials have chroma values as high as 30.

So what does this all mean for archaeology?  Well, most of it doesn’t mean a whole lot.  We use a very small wedge on the Munsell Hue wheel.  I just feel that it’s good to know the details about the things we use every day.

Where did the Munsell Color System come from?

The idea of using a three dimensional shape to represent all possible colors was first explored in the mid-1700s.  Several shapes were chosen including a triangular pyramid, a sphere, a hemisphere, a cone, and a tilted cube.  The most sophisticated design was a slanted double cone conceived of by August Kirschmann in 1895.  Kirschmann’s color solid was the first to recognize the difference between bright colors of different hues.  All of these models encountered problems when trying to accommodate all possible colors and none were based on the measurement of human vision.

Albert Munsell, a professor of art at the Massachusetts Normal Art School, wanted a way to describe color that would use decimal notation instead of color names which could be misleading.  He started on his new system in 1898 and finished it seven years later in A Color Notation in 1905.

Figure 4. The Munsell Color SolidThe first Munsell Book of Color was published in 1929  and improved on deficiencies regarding the physical representation of the theoretical system.  Experiments performed by the Optical Society of America in the 1940s resulted in improvements to the system and the familiar notations that we know today.

The Munsell system today is used, not only for archaeology, but for skin and hair colors in forensic pathology, matching soil colors for the USGS, shades for dental restorations, and in breweries for matching beer colors.  I thought that last one would get your attention.

Want your very own Munsell Book of Color?  The full book will cost you.  The full book, with over 1,600 color chips (in glossy or matte) is $945.  You’ve probably never seen the full book.  I never have.  That’s because they sell a soil version.  The Munsell Washable Soil Color Charts (2009 Edition) runs for about $185.  You can find it at the previous link or at Forestry Suppliers, among others.  The Munsell Store also sells a pack with just the 7.5YR and the 10YR page for an astonishing $75.

Alternatively, you can buy the $4.99 iOS app for your iPhone.  Check out the post here.

Hope you learned something!  See you in the field.