That retired UK archaeologist told me not to waste time cleaning every single pot shard at the site. He was absolutely right.

Back in 2018 I was volunteering on a dig near Salisbury and this older gentleman, name was Nigel, kept shaking his head at me while I was carefully scrubbing each piece of broken pottery with a toothbrush. He said "you're going to spend half the season cleaning things that will tell you nothing." I ignored him because I wanted every piece perfect. After 3 days I had cleaned over 200 shards and learned basically nothing useful. The crew lead finally pulled me aside and explained that context and placement matter way more than how clean a shard is. Now I focus on mapping and photography first. Has anyone else had a veteran digger give advice that went against what you learned in school?

2 comments

2 Comments

lee7331mo ago

Changed my whole approach after a guy showed me the same thing on a site in Dorset.

-1

blake_smith1mo ago

Is it really that deep though, @lee733?