Marshalltown trowel

The Marshalltown trowel is an excavation implement used by archaeologists around the globe.

A 1912 advertisement for a Marshalltown Trowel.

Manufactured by the Marshalltown Company of Marshalltown, Iowa, the trowel was first introduced in the 1890s. A patent filed for its handle by the company on July 12, 1927 was granted on December 23, 1930. The Marshalltown trowel is made of a single piece of metal. The 5-inch and 6-inch pointing trowels are most often used for archaeology. It is larger and more flexible than the WHS trowel preferred by archaeologists in the United Kingdom, which makes it better for cleaning sections but less suited to digging heavy clay and gravel deposits. It is also used by bricklayers in the United Kingdom.

A 1982 American Anthropologist article, "The Golden Marshalltown: A Parable for the Archeology of the 1980s," relates an exchange between a younger version of an American archaeologist Kent V. Flannery and an experienced older archaeologist. The "Old Timer" likens an archaeologist's first trowel to "a major leaguer's first Wilson glove." According to the Old Timer, his trowel has accompanied him to many famous dig sites, such as Snaketown, Angel Mound, and the Dalles of the Columbia, and is now a legendary item in its own right. Within the greater article, the Old Timer and his trowel represent the "glory days" of American archaeology and stand in opposition to the pragmatic realities of "new" archaeology in the 1980s and beyond.