Spit (archaeology)

Spit in archaeology refers to a special way of digging a hole in the ground like making a sandcastle on the beach. When archaeologists want to look at what's under the ground, they use a tool called a trowel to carefully dig a hole. But instead of digging straight down, they dig at an angle, like making a sloping hill, so that they can see all the different layers of dirt.

Each layer of dirt is called a "spit." Sometimes, these layers can have different colors or different things in them, like little pieces of broken pottery, shells, or animal bones. Archaeologists can learn a lot from these different layers about different times and events in history.

So, just like how you make layers with sand when building a sandcastle, archaeologists make spits when digging in the ground to learn about what's been hidden for a long time!