A visitor at a dig site changed how I clean pottery sherds

I used to scrub every piece of pottery I found with a stiff brush and water right at the site. For years I thought getting them as clean as possible was the right approach. But last summer at a dig in Santa Fe, an older volunteer named Bob pulled me aside and pointed out that I was rubbing off fine tool marks and residue that could tell us how the pot was made. He showed me how archaeologists at his old site in Utah just dry brush off the loose dirt and leave the rest for lab analysis with controlled washing. I felt a bit silly at first, but I realized he was right about preserving those tiny details. Now I only use a soft paintbrush to remove the big clumps and bag everything else as is. Has anyone else had to adjust their field methods after getting feedback from a more experienced person?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_drew21d ago

Have you ever considered that washing sherds on site might also be contaminating them with your own skin oils or residue from the local water? I'm paranoid about that now after Bob's tip.

irisg5720d ago

Great, so I'm contaminating the contamination now. Perfect.