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Why does nobody talk about the old guy who runs the dig site tours in Tucson? | Archaeology Discoveries - Freelance Forum - The Community for Independent Professionals

kai_foster•6mo ago

Why does nobody talk about the old guy who runs the dig site tours in Tucson?

I was on a tour last month at the Hohokam pit house site, and the guide pointed at a plain patch of dirt. He said, 'That's where someone sat and made a pot 800 years ago, you can see the worn spot.' It made me realize we look for big finds but miss the small human marks. Has anyone else had a guide point out something simple that stuck with them?

4 comments

4 Comments

shane_carter6mo ago

That guide in Tucson nailed it. The best stuff is often the quiet stuff. Had a ranger at Mesa Verde show us a handprint in dried clay inside a kiva, just some kid messing around centuries ago. It hits different than a whole pot. Makes you ask what they were thinking about that day. Guides who point out those small marks are the ones you remember.

sagejackson3mo ago

I was with johnson.betty on this for a long time. I'd walk right past those little marks and head straight for the big pottery or the walls with paintings on them. But then a guide at Canyon de Chelly pointed out this one spot on a cliff wall where people had been rubbing their hands for hundreds of years to soften the rock. It was just a smooth, worn down patch. She said they'd use that same spot every day to grind corn. That really stopped me in my tracks. Now I'm the one trying to spot those tiny signs of daily life before anyone else does. Have you ever caught yourself looking for those little marks even when there's no guide around?

johnson.betty6mo ago

Honestly, I'm there for the big finds. Those small marks just look like dirt to me.

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tessarodriguez6mo ago

Totally get that! I used to be the same way until a guide at Chaco Canyon had us all sit down and just look at one wall. She pointed out this tiny, worn down groove in the stone. It was from generations of people sharpening their tools right there in that spot. Suddenly I wasn't just seeing a rock, I was seeing someone's daily life. Now I love finding those little signs of use. They feel like a direct link.