Got completely shut down at the Mesa Verde dig last summer

I was helping map a new section of cliff dwellings and found what looked like a broken tool near a wall. Got super excited, started taking photos and notes, and basically called everyone over. The lead archaeologist, Dr. Chen, came over, looked for maybe 30 seconds, and just said 'That's modern. Probably from a tour group in the 80s.' Felt my face get hot, lol. It totally changed how I look at surface finds now. Anyone else have a moment that made you slow way down before getting hyped?

3 comments

3 Comments

grant_anderson2mo ago

My first field school in Wyoming, I was sure I'd found a fossilized bone in a creek bed. My professor just picked it up, snapped it in half, and said "That's modern cow bone, son. The ranch up the hill loses a few every winter." I used to get excited about every little thing, but that moment taught me to check the context twice before saying a word. Now I assume everything I find on the surface is recent until proven otherwise. It saves a lot of quiet embarrassment later.

white.grant2mo agoTop Commenter

My first "dinosaur" was a deer antler.

evac728d ago

Right? Same thing happened to me at Dinosaur National Monument. I spotted what I thought was a perfect little vertebra poking out of the dirt, spent twenty minutes carefully brushing it off, and my ranger just laughed and said it was a chunk of petrified wood from a landscaping truck. @grant_anderson nailed it - now I always check the matrix and the color before I get my hopes up.