Just realized I was digging test pits all wrong after watching a pro at a site in Ohio

Was out at a volunteer dig near Cincinnati last month and this guy from the state museum came over. I was just hacking away at my square like usual. He asked why I was going straight down instead of following the natural soil layers. I didn't even know that was a thing. He pulled out a trowel and showed me how to scrape horizontally across each layer. Took me about 20 minutes to get the hang of it. Found a tiny piece of chert flake I would have missed doing it my old way. Has anyone else had that moment where they realized they were doing something basic completely backwards?

2 comments

2 Comments

cameron3181mo ago

Same here, I spent like two years digging straight down on my own before a BLM tech showed me the horizontal scrape trick and I found my first actual point fragment. That was the day I realized I had been basically just making a hole instead of actually excavating.

lily891mo ago

Two years digging straight down"? No way man I would have lost my mind by then. That's some serious dedication just to be making a hole the whole time. Honestly kind of impressive you stuck with it that long without any real finds.