Screening

The screening station at the Varrock dig site

"Screen Soil" redirects here. For the Lunar Spell that screens soil, see Sift Soil.

In Archaeology, screening or sifting is the action of separating materials from soil samples obtained by excavating at dig sites. The screening station at the Archaeology Campus is the only area where this can be done freely, though soil can also be screened anywhere using the Sift Soil spell.

Experience from screening is initially 1 experience per a heap of soil, and is increased at Archaeology levels 38, 71, 93 and 111, to 3, 5, 12 and 20 experience respectively. Screening takes three ticks per item equivalent to three minutes per 100 heaps of soil. Wearing the master archaeologist's outfit reduces the ticks per item by one, and the Sift Soil spell also reduces the ticks per item by one. Using both the outfit and spell will stack, making each heap of soil take one tick to screen.

When screening, it is recommended to fill up the archaeological soil box with soil, as soil in the box is also screened and up to 100 heaps of soil can be screened at a time (or until the backpack is filled with materials).

A higher Archaeology level increases the chance of receiving materials from soil.

Screening soil also has a rare chance to produce an artefact from the same area as the soil sample.

The auto-screener v1.080 can be carried while excavating to automatically screen soil as it is gathered. However, the actual function of the auto-screener is more akin to replacing any soil gathered with a material from the same excavation location (e.g. the auto-screener at war table debris will only generate vellum, white oak, tyrian purple, or ancient vis, and not any of the other materials that ancient gravel can usually generate). The auto-screener also cannot generate artefacts from soil.

There are six different types of soil. The minimum level is the level required to be able to access the dig site with that soil. The maximum level is the highest level of the material which can be obtained with that soil.

Dig site	Soil type	Minimum level	Maximum level
Varrock Dig Site	Senntisten soil	1	1
Kharid-et Dig Site Senntisten Dig Site	Ancient gravel	5	58
Infernal Source Dig Site	Fiery brimstone	20	76
Everlight Dig Site	Saltwater mud	42	51
Stormguard Citadel Dig Site	Aerated sediment	70	98
Warforge Dig Site	Earthen clay	76	98
Orthen Dig Site	Volcanic ash	90	99

Update history

This information has been compiled as part of the update history project. Some updates may not be included—see here for how to help out!

• patch 26 October 2020 (Update):
  • Artefacts from 'Desperate Measures' will no longer appear when screening soil.

• ninja 21 September 2020 (Update):
  • A new spell has been added to the Lunar Spellbook: Sift Soil: Screens all of the targeted type of archaeological soil from the backpack and Soil Box (no Screening Station required).

• update 30 March 2020 (Update):
  • Added to game.