Just realized my volunteer dig habits were all wrong after a chat with the site director

I spent three summers digging at a Roman site in York, and I always thought the best way to find stuff was to go fast and clean. Then the site director pulled me aside after I scraped past a possible posthole. She said, "You're missing the small stuff because you're hunting for the big prize." That hit me hard. I changed my whole approach, started using finer tools and taking more time on each layer. Now I actually see the charcoal flecks and tiny bone fragments that tell the real story. Has anyone else had to slow way down after getting called out by a more experienced digger?

2 comments

2 Comments

holly_henderson861mo ago

Woah wait you scraped right past a posthole?

rowan_roberts491mo ago

Hang on, you actually walked right past a posthole? @holly_henderson86 That's wild. I once missed a trash pit by about two feet because the dirt looked the same. Had to re-open the whole test unit the next day. Did you at least catch it on the profile wall before you backfilled?