I was cleaning a find from a dig site like it was a gym weight

A senior archaeologist saw me scrubbing a piece of pottery from a dig in Santa Fe and said, 'You're treating it like a barbell, not a 200-year-old story.' I was using a stiff brush and too much water, trying to make it spotless. Now I use a soft brush and dry methods first, thinking about what the dirt itself might tell us. Has anyone else had to totally change their cleaning approach after getting called out?

3 comments

3 Comments

emery6034mo ago

My first dig had me treating artifacts like dishes needing a good scrub.

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brianfox4mo ago

I remember my first field school, we had a kid who scrubbed a potsherd with a toothbrush until it was just dust. That instinct to clean things is so strong, @emery603. It really takes a season to learn that dirt is often the best protector an artifact has.

lisa8202mo ago

Heard someone from a museum once say that if you clean an artifact too well you're basically erasing its history. The dirt can have pollen or tiny bits of charcoal that tell you what plants were around or even what people ate. Makes you wonder how many clues got scrubbed away before people figured that out.