That dig at Sutton Hoo where my trowel hit something that cracked

I was on a training dig near Sutton Hoo last summer, working in a test trench on a cold morning. My trowel hit what I thought was just a rock, but it was actually a piece of a ceramic vessel from the Anglo-Saxon period. I tried to lever it out gently and it snapped right down the middle - felt like my stomach dropped out. The site supervisor came over, took one look, and just sighed before telling me to document the shards carefully. Has anyone else had a find break on them during excavation?

2 comments

2 Comments

margaretm239d ago

42 shards of a Roman roof tile I pulled out of a garden in Colchester. My buddy was showing off his new metal detector and swung it right into my hand. Tile went flying, hit a paving stone, and turned into a dozen pieces. We spent the next hour trying to match them back together like a jigsaw puzzle. The homeowner came out and asked if we were building a patio. Did you get your supervisor to let you keep the pieces?

patricialee9d ago

42 pieces and a roof tile jigsaw puzzle, that sounds like the kind of day that sticks with you.