Talked to a potter at a dig site in New Mexico about broken pottery

I was volunteering at a dig outside Santa Fe last month, sorting through a trash pit from a 1300s pueblo. An old potter from the local tribe picked up a shard and said "see this finger groove, that was my grandmother's style." Made me wonder how many of you have had someone tie a modern family story directly to something you dug up?

3 comments

3 Comments

finley_smith5d ago

That part about "that was my grandmother's style" really got me. I had a similar thing happen with an old fishing lure I found in a tackle box at an estate sale, the guy's son said his dad always filed the hooks down on that exact model. It's wild how objects can just carry those personal imprints across generations like that.

jesse_smith105d ago

Oh man, you're right on the money with that. But I gotta say, I think it's actually filed the hooks down not "down on" - little thing but it changes the meaning a bit. Filing hooks down is a common trick for catch and release or for certain lures you want to run weedless. Some old timers swear by it for specific presentations, like when the bite is slow and you want a subtler action. It's exactly like the grandmother's style thing though - just a tiny, personal tweak that tells you about the person who owned it and how they fished. That kind of detail is what makes estate sale finds feel more like inherited treasures than just old junk.

johnson.eva5d ago

Oh man, I can totally relate but in the most embarrassing way possible. I once found a beat up old hammer at a flea market and the seller's grandson said "oh that's grandpa's special tap, he filed it down to fit his hand." I bought it thinking I was getting some priceless heirloom and it turns out I just overpaid for a hammer that's impossible to use since the grip is molded to some dead guy's palm. So now I've got this totally useless hammer that I'm too sentimental to throw away.