Used to roll my eyes at people getting excited over old pottery sherds, but then I found one with a clear fingerprint from 800 years ago at a dig in Santa Fe and now I get it.

How long do impressions like that usually hold up before they just wear away from weather or handling?

3 comments

3 Comments

The really wild part is how much the firing process actually helps lock those prints in. When clay gets fired in a kiln, it basically bakes the organic residue from your skin right into the ceramic matrix, making it way more durable than you'd expect. Weather will definitely take its toll if a sherd sits exposed on the surface for a long time, but once something gets buried and stays protected from direct rain and freeze-thaw cycles, those impressions can last for centuries. The one I found was from a buried trash pit that had been sealed under layers of dirt, so the only real enemy was my own clumsy handling after I pulled it out. Archaeologists actually wear gloves now for exactly this reason - our modern fingerprints are so much oilier and can damage the old ones if we're not careful. It still blows my mind that some potter from the 1200s left that mark and here we are, generations later, connecting with them across all that time.

grace_knight701mo ago

The bit about modern fingerprints being oilier and actually damaging old ones is something I hadn't considered. Do you think that's why some museums have gone completely hands-off with certain artifacts, or is it more about the oils from handling over time building up? I've seen some exhibits where they let you touch reproductions but not the real thing, and now I'm wondering if fingerprints were the reason that started.

kim1911mo ago

Thirty thousand year old cave art has actual handprints preserved from people blowing pigment around their hands lol.