Compared two dig sites near Cahokia - the difference was crazy

Honestly, I spent last summer volunteering on two different digs about 30 miles apart near Cahokia. One site was on private farmland where they just surface-collected for years, the other was a regulated excavation with grid systems from the start. The difference in what we found was night and day - the messy site gave us maybe 50 random shards over 3 weeks, while the gridded one pulled up 200+ pieces of pottery and a copper bead in the same time. I think it comes down to how you approach the ground, not just luck. Has anyone else noticed a huge gap between haphazard versus methodical digs in their area?

3 comments

3 Comments

loganthompson16d ago

Is it possible the haphazard site was just picked over already that's why you found less?

felixramirez16d ago

Reminds me of when I showed up late to a yard sale and all the good stuff was gone lol.

abby_black15d ago

I mean, is it really that deep? Maybe the yard sale just wasn't that great to begin with.