Vent: spent 4 months trying to match pottery sherds from one dig site

I picked up a box of sherds from a 1920s excavation at a site near Santa Fe and figured I'd sort them in a weekend. Turns out the original field notes were basically useless and half the bags had no labels. It took me until last Tuesday to get even 60% of them matched up, and I'm still missing joins on at least 15 pieces. Anyone else ever get stuck with old collections that have no documentation?

3 comments

3 Comments

fiona_murphy2mo ago

Try matching by temper type instead of paint style?

joseph_ellis852mo ago

Used to ignore temper types but this actually makes way more sense.

kelly_craig1mo ago

Isn't it funny how something like this shows up in all kinds of projects, not just archaeology? I've noticed this pattern where people assume old records are perfect, but they're usually a mess. Like when I tried to follow my grandma's recipe box and half the cards just said "a pinch of this" and "some of that" with no amounts. It's the same with old photos my dad left me - zero labels on the back. Everyone back then thought they'd remember everything, but they never did. You're basically doing detective work with missing clues, and it's frustrating but also kind of cool when pieces finally click.