Spent 3 days brushing dirt in a 1x1 meter square. Worth it for one tiny bead.

I was digging at a site near Santa Fe last spring. A more experienced volunteer told me to go slow and use a brush even when I got bored. I wanted to use a trowel and just get through it quicker. On day three I found a single glass trade bead about 4mm wide in that square. That bead ended up being dated to the 1600s. Has anyone else had a boring dig pay off with something small?

2 comments

2 Comments

smith.jordan17d ago

Rolled my eyes so hard at this post (in a good way) because I had the exact same thing happen to me at a site in Ohio. Spent two full afternoons brushing what felt like an empty square, only to pull out a single arrowhead point that was smaller than my thumbnail. My back hurt, my knees were screaming, and my digging buddy kept joking that I was just playing in the dirt for fun. But when the lab guy told me it was from the late 1600s, I felt like a total smug genius. Sometimes the universe just makes you earn your tiny treasures, I guess.

jaken2317d ago

Totally feel you on that one. My buddy still laughs about the time I spent three hours on a single meter square in Pennsylvania and came up with just a small piece of broken pottery. The lab guy said it was 18th century, and I acted like I found gold, but my knees were done for the week. It's like the ground knows when you're not taking it seriously and holds out on you until you Prove you're serious. But man, when that tiny piece of history finally shows up, it wipes out all the sore backs and bad jokes.