My '5 minute' pottery sherd cleaning turned into a 4 hour ordeal

So I brought home a bunch of pottery pieces from a dig last weekend near Austin. Thought I'd just rinse them off quick before bagging them. Eight hours later I'm still picking dried clay out of tiny grooves with a toothpick. Has anyone else had a 'quick' artifact cleaning job totally snowball on you?

2 comments

2 Comments

derekward17d ago

Wait, EIGHT hours? I thought my 4 hour spiral was bad but you doubled that lmao. I literally had a similar thing happen with some shell middens from Galveston, I figured a quick hose down would work but ended up finding charcoal flecks and tiny bone fragments I had to tease out with tweezers. The worst part is when you think you're done and then the sun hits it just right and you see another crust of dried clay in a crack you completely missed.

paul34616d ago

Man, talk about a cruel joke from the sun. I swear artifacts wait until the perfect lighting to mock you for missing a spot. At that point it's not cleaning, it's a war of attrition with a rock.