Showerthought: That time a random stranger at a dig site in New Mexico showed me the difference between a rock and an artifact

I was volunteering on a surface survey near Santa Fe about 3 years ago, just picking up anything that looked interesting. This older guy, maybe 70, walked over and held up a piece of chert. He said 'see how this one has a clear flake scar? That's not nature, that's a person taking a tool to it.' Then he handed me a similar looking rock with no marks. It was such a simple lesson but it totally changed how I see stuff on the ground now. Has anyone else had a moment where one person just explained something obvious and it clicked?

2 comments

2 Comments

sarah53115d ago

Did you ever go back and look for more stuff after that? Same thing happened to me once with a guy who told me to stop picking up every cool looking rock and start looking for the ones that looked "wrong" in a human way. Flake scars and edge wear are the big tells, but also look for rocks that don't match the local geology (like a piece of obsidian in a limestone area that shouldn't have any). That's usually a sign someone carried it there on purpose. It's one of those things where once you see it, you can't unsee it, and suddenly every hike turns into a slow scan of the ground.

danielr9414d ago

Isn't it funny how once you learn to spot one kind of pattern you start seeing hidden clues EVERYWHERE?