My professor told me to ignore the small pottery shards at the site in Crete.

Turns out those 'shards' were part of a Minoan libation table that changed the whole dig's focus. Anyone else have an expert's advice backfire on them in the field?

3 comments

3 Comments

willow2442mo ago

Had a similar thing happen with what looked like plain charcoal. A senior researcher said to just bag it for later, but I ran a quick pH test on a hunch. It was alkaline, not acidic like wood ash. That got us looking closer and it turned out to be residue from a metalworking area. Sometimes you just have to check the small stuff yourself.

fox.simon2mo ago

Check the small stuff" changed how I see everything now.

aaron_wilson1710h ago

Funny how the universe works when you actually pay attention. I once spent a whole field season cataloging what I thought was a really impressive spread of ancient storage pits. Turns out I was just recording a bunch of old badger dens that had collapsed in on themselves. My advisor still brings it up at conferences. The small stuff will humble you real fast when you think you've got it all figured out.