The day a broken pottery shard changed my whole dig site

We were working on a site near Tucson, Arizona, cataloging what looked like a standard trash pit from the 1800s. I was about to label a piece of plain brown pottery when I noticed a tiny, faded maker's mark on the bottom. I spent the next two hours carefully cleaning it and found a clear stamp from a specific pottery in St. Louis that only operated from 1848 to 1851. That one shard let us date the entire feature to a precise three-year window, which is super rare for that area. It felt like hitting the jackpot with a single piece of broken dish. Has anyone else had a small find suddenly make a huge difference like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

grace_allen24d ago

That must've felt like solving a tiny, perfect puzzle.

the_joel23d agoMost Upvoted

I get the puzzle thing, but that jar lid moment is more like a surprise win.

wilson.kelly24d ago

Nah, not really a puzzle to me. More like finally getting a stubborn jar open. That click when it gives way, you know? Puzzles are slow and planned. This is just pure relief when something finally works after fighting with it.