Got scolded at a dig site for using a metal trowel on a fragile pottery shard

I was volunteering on a dig near Santa Fe last month, and I chipped a piece of an old bowl because I got lazy and used my metal trowel instead of switching to a wooden one. The lead archaeologist gave me a 10 minute lecture right there in the pit about how that shard could hold paint or residue. Now I carry three different trowel types in my bag and swap them out way more often. Has anyone else learned a hard lesson about tool choice on a site?

2 comments

2 Comments

uma_patel1914d ago

Can't believe they let that slide with just a lecture, some crews would have sent you packing right then. Metal trowels on fragile stuff is basically asking for a museum piece to end up as gravel, man. Glad you took the hint though, swapping out tools is way better than getting banned from a site.

ericjackson13d ago

Hear me out @uma_patel19, a metal trowel can work fine if you go slow and steady, not everyone needs the fancy plastic stuff.