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My professor said the pottery sherds in the topsoil layer were 'just noise' and I almost believed her until I found the real thing 6 inches down
Back in my field school days at a dig site near Flagstaff, our professor kept telling us to ignore the little broken bits in the upper layer since they were 'mixed context' and not worth cataloging. I spent two weeks bagging those sherds anyway out of sheer stubbornness, and when I finally mapped them out, there was a clear trade pattern showing up from around 1100 AD. She admitted at the end of the season that my little pile of 'noise' actually pointed to a seasonal camp nobody had documented before. Anyone else have a prof who was dead sure about something until the dirt said otherwise?
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laura_wilson1h ago
Did your prof ever admit you were right before the season ended? Mine pulled the same thing at a site in Arizona, said the flakes up top were just backfill, then a student found a whole tool cache 8 inches down and she changed her tune real quick.
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faithpatel1h ago
Wish mine had, but he just muttered something about "site disturbance" and walked away while I stood there feeling like a real genius with my one little flake. Congrats on your win though, at least someone's prof eats crow.
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