Shoutout to the grad student who spotted the pottery shard I almost missed

Last week at the site near Tucson, I was sifting through a dusty trench and nearly tossed a small, plain piece of clay. A first year from the university pointed out the faint line pattern, which turned out to match a style from about 800 years ago. Has anyone else had a simple find turn out to be a key piece for dating a layer?

3 comments

3 Comments

nathan_shah1mo ago

Classic. I bet that grad student is still riding that high. Almost tossed out the whole timeline.

alex3071mo ago

Seriously, that's the dream right there. Finding a single error that changes everything is a researcher's fantasy. That kid earned their moment.

cole99427d agoMost Upvoted

Man, that's wild. Read a story once where a tiny bead like that reset the whole history of a trade route. @nathan_shah is right, that student must be over the moon.