Overheard a kid at a dig site say old pottery is just 'ancient trash'

I was volunteering at a local field school near Santa Fe last weekend and this teenager called a broken amphora handle 'just old garbage someone forgot to recycle.' Kinda made me laugh but also wonder how we keep younger folks interested in stuff that doesn't shine or have a screen attached.

3 comments

3 Comments

james_kim7d ago

My buddy's nephew called a Roman coin "ancient pocket lint" last month...

evan_campbell3d ago

I heard it's pretty common for kids to just see old stuff as trash.

carr.brooke7d ago

I had a similar thing happen at a museum I help out at, a kid called a medieval jug handle "a broken cup handle from before pop sockets existed." What actually worked for me was just asking them what they thought it was used for and letting them guess wild stuff before I told them the real answer. Once they got invested in being wrong, they started paying more attention to the little details. Sometimes you just gotta let them be sarcastic about it and sneak the history in sideways.