Pro tip: Found out after 3 years my trowel angle was all wrong for cleaning artifacts

I was at a dig in New Mexico last month and this older archaeologist watched me work for maybe 2 minutes. She just came over and said "you're scraping the surface instead of lifting it." I had been using my trowel at like a 45 degree angle for years and thinking I was doing fine. She showed me to keep it almost flat and just slide under stuff. Suddenly I wasnt breaking half the ceramic pieces I found. Anyone else have a basic technique they did backwards for way too long?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_ray1mo ago

Three years of troweling wrong and your artifacts were still fine?

danielw881mo ago

@the_ray sounds like you just got lucky honestly.

zaram9721d ago

Three years of troweling wrong" is wild. I'm surprised you didn't snap every piece you touched.