Modern Vespa

There is so much history in this former crossroads of the world that you literally can't turn over a stone without finding something of historical significance... or at least of interest.

At pretty much every archeological site, there is a spot where dirt is brought to be sifted through steel mesh screens of varying sizes. And nearly every shovel-full of dirt leaves behind something.

Most of what is left behind on the steel mesh after the dirt has fallen away are shards of pottery. But quite often, coins, small lamps, clay seals, arrowheads, glass perfume vials and other household items are revealed.

Near the sifting area there is usually a shed or tent of some sort where finds are brought to be cleaned, catalogued and photographed, and where larger shards of pottery are laid out for possible re-assembly.

I mention this last, because there is usually so much broken pottery at any site that only the most significant (age, design, etc.) and/or mostly intact examples are set aside for puzzle work. The rest are discarded in a nearby pile.

If you ask nicely, the archaeologists working in the shed/tent will usually invite you to take a few souvenirs from the discard pile... with a stern warning never to remove anything from a dig site without permission.

Now, pottery shards by themselves have never appealed to me that much. Although they are quite old and were made and used by people whose history I can only read about... their uniform reddish brown color blunts the imagination. It could just as easily be the scrap pile from one of those places in the mall where birthday parties full of kids paint vases and coffee cups.

But once in awhile, a shard of pottery will retain some of the pigment with which some ancient hand colored it... and suddenly, in the mind's eye the shard becomes the edge of a dinner plate... the rim of a water pitcher... a serving platter's center.

Here are a few of the nicest ones I've been privileged to find recently. They have a place of honor on my desk. And when I need a break, I look at them and let my mind imagine the gentle hand applying the design, thousands of years ago... not far from where I sit:

I love looking at these objects and wondering about the lives of the persons whose hands held and used them.

I could make up little stories (and often do) for the similar pieces that I have.

Thanks for sharing.

Pretty cool stuff.

That's why we tell people our clay sewer pipe will last forever.

Or, at least broken pieces of it will.

Trepp, can the guys running the digs give any indication of how old these shards might be? Commonly found or not, they are still very, very cool!

I'm sure some they can. The thickness, texture, colors edging, etc. all help place pottery in a period. But since many periods consciously copied previous periods, they rely heavily on other, more easily dated finds such as coins, from the same layers to place a find in a specific time frame.

I have no idea when these shards are from... or if they are even from the same period. I kind of like not knowing. It lets my imagination run free.

Trepp,

thanks for sharing, i think a revisit to the AMNH in NYC is long overdue(its been 2 months, lol) artifacts are pieces of history frozen in time and should be treasured.

Thanks, Trepp. I love pieces of history like this...literally a touchstone to the past. The mystery gives it life....

Southwest dig results back in the 1980's

A turkey image, Mesa Verde Black on White sherd and the last photo turned out to be an complete mug. Perfect. That was really something.

None of these are mine, just things we found on digs and cataloged.

You can almost hear the conversation between the pueblo couple: "this is why we can't have nice things!".

Amazingly beautiful... Thanks for sharing!

Very cool M. The last trip we made through the SW before leaving was to climb around the remains of Mesa Verde and the Ancient Ones. Stunning works of pottery and you were involved in cataloging? Very cool!. I do often miss the desert SW.

That's awesome Trepp.

Does that still make you the oldest thing at your desk

Very cool.

They are at least hundreds, if not thousands, of years old. Someone long forgotten made them, and others used them. They are a connection to a lost world - a world made up of ordinary people who were just like us in their own way.

I have several fossils in my collection. Nothing spectacular, except that they are remnants of living things from millions of years ago. I try to get that "deep time" perspective, but it is ever mind-boggling.

I'll betcha a fiver that not a single one of them ever argued with anyone on the internets.

They did it around the campfire, in the town square, working in the fields, etc.

Just like us in their own way.

Of course, in the old days, trolls were real and mainly lived under bridges.

Reminds me of the famous quote:

"Don't believe everything you read on the Internet".
~Abraham Lincoln~

Yes. Definitely!

Can pottery shards like that be carbon dated or are they too "new?"

I doubt that the margin of accuracy is the issue with trying to use carbon dating on pottery shards. More of an issue is that carbon dating is used for determining the age of organic material. While alive, all living things absorb an isotope of carbon called carbon 14. Once the thing dies it no longer can absorb that isotope and the carbon 14 in the remains starts to decay at a predictable rate. Scientists measure the remaining carbon 14 in an item to estimate its age. I'm pretty sure someone won a Nobel prize for coming up with this idea.

But since clay and most other substances in pottery are inorganic, it can't be dated (afaik) using this method.

What can be fascinating is locating an actual finger print on the pottery sherd.