Changed my mind about those 'modern' glass bottle digs after visiting Colonial Williamsburg

I always thought those old bottle hunting posts were just people digging up trash, but I walked through their archaeology lab last month and saw a 1740s wine bottle reconstructed from 80 fragments. The way they fit it back together like a 3D puzzle really showed me how much these broken pieces can tell us about daily life, trade routes, and even what people drank. Has anyone else had a site visit that totally flipped your opinion on a certain type of artifact?

3 comments

3 Comments

jason_lewis33d ago

Yeah I walked through a historic dump site once and came out thinking I should start keeping my old beer bottles in the recycling instead of trashing them for future generations to puzzle over.

holly_reed553d ago

@jason_lewis3 gets it completely. It's wild how seeing those pieces put back together makes you rethink your own trash. After visiting that lab, I actually started rinsing out my jam jars before tossing them, feels silly but you never know. Something about watching them piece a broken gin bottle back together just hits different, like you're seeing history the way it really was.

danielnelson3d ago

You rinse your jars now too? The trick is to let them dry upside down so they don't get musty.