That tip from a retired professor about pot sherds in the field changed my whole approach

An old guy from the University of Kansas told me to look for edge wear on broken pottery pieces, not just the patterns. I spent two seasons ignoring it, then tried it on a site near Topeka and found three pieces that actually showed tool marks. Has anyone else gotten advice from a non-professional that turned out to be spot on?

2 comments

2 Comments

alex52418d ago

Neighbor lady down the street told me she scrapes her own asphalt driveway with a flat shovel before winter hits. Said it pushes water off and keeps cracks from freezing worse. Laughed at her for months until I tried it on my cracked parking pad. Next spring the parts I scraped were smooth and the others turned into potholes the size of dinner plates.

kim_nelson18d ago

Oh man, that rings so true. It's funny how the best tips often come from people who aren't even trying to teach you something formal. I've seen the same thing with fixing up old furniture. My neighbor, who's just a retired plumber, told me to check the underside of a wooden chair before buying it. He said if the glue joints are dark and crusty you're looking at a cheap repair job that'll fail again soon. I ignored him at first, then watched him point out a beautiful antique table that looked perfect but had that crusty glue underneath. Sure enough, the leg wobbled right off after two light moves. It's like those non-experts just see the world in a way that's more practical and less about the fancy stuff.