I called flotation therapy a fake way to find sites until I tried it at a pond in Missouri | Archaeology Discoveries

Mason Black · 2026-09-15T20:20:05.300135+00:00

I always figured sifting dirt at a known site was the only real way to do field work, and anything else was just guessing. Then a buddy dragged me to a dried up farm pond outside Columbia where the landowner had pulled up maybe 40 points over 20 years just walking the mud. We floated the muck in a screen box with pond water for about 3 hours and pulled 11 flakes and one broken Kirk point that the muddy water was hiding the whole time. The trick is to skim the light stuff off the top slow so the heavy chert stays put, and you can process way more dirt than dry screening because nothing clogs. So what am I missing here, is flotation still looked down on by the trowel and grid crowd or has it gotten more respect lately?

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I called flotation therapy a fake way to find sites until I tried it at a pond in Missouri | Archaeology Discoveries - Opinions Matter