Can we talk about the debate over brushing dirt off artifacts vs leaving them caked?

I spent 10 years cleaning every find with a toothbrush until a field director told me I was destroying surface residue evidence. Now I wonder if we're over-cleaning stuff or just being lazy about documentation.

2 comments

2 Comments

taylor3051mo ago

But what if the real issue isn't about cleaning or not cleaning, it's about who gets to decide what's "important" on an artifact in the first place... That toothbrush method might be destroying stuff, but a lot of "surface residue" gets lost when we skip cleaning and just bag things wet too. Moisture trapped in mud can actually eat away at organic material over time, so leaving dirt on isn't always the safest bet. I think we need to stop treating this like a one-size-fits-all rule and start asking what the artifact is made of and what kind of environment it's been in before we make a call. Sometimes the mud is the record, and sometimes the mud is just mud that's rotting your find.

the_jason1mo ago

Field director said I was scrubbing away the archaeological record with a toothbrush. Guess we should just hand over trowels and start collecting artifacts in their natural mud casing. Either way someone's getting yelled at for doing it wrong.