Just hit 5,000 years in a single dig layer and it messed with my head

We were working a site near a dried-up riverbed outside of Flagstaff last fall. I was sifting through this one stratified layer we'd been pulling pottery from for weeks. Then we found a fire pit charcoal sample that carbon-dated to just over 5,000 years old. That number really hit me different because I'm used to dealing with stuff maybe a couple hundred years old, like old homesteads. It makes you realize how short our own timelines are. Has anyone else had a find where the age just kind of stopped you in your tracks?

2 comments

2 Comments

maxmurphy7d ago

bro that "5,000 years in a single dig layer" line really got me. I was reading this article from the Society for American Archaeology about some cave deposits in Oregon that had continuous layers going back 15,000 years and the author mentioned how it made her feel like "a small thing in a big timeline." i feel that so hard. one time i was helping with a survey out near bluff springs and they pulled a projectile point that was dated to around 8,000 BC. i just stood there holding it like a dumbass trying to wrap my head around the fact that someone was holding that same rock before the pyramids were even a thought. it really puts the whole "we're just passing through" thing into perspective.

gavin_kim37d agoTop Commenter

Dude imagine if that rock was a kid's first toy from 8,000 BC.