Crossed 500 shards of Roman pottery I've catalogued this month alone

Never realized how many pieces of a broken amphora could pile up in one dig season until I hit that number, has anyone else lost count of their own artifacts?

4 comments

4 Comments

morgan.rose1mo ago

I used to think cataloguing past a certain number was just... showing off or something. But then I got to a point where you start recognizing individual potters' finger grooves on the handles, or the exact same glaze on three different rim sherds from three different trenches. It really changes how you see the whole site when you can almost picture the person throwing the clay, you know?

kelly.charlie1mo ago

Interesting take @morgan.rose but you're just overthinking broken clay pots.

sean_cooper581mo ago

Exactly this. That kind of detail brings a whole site to life.

sage_green26d ago

You had me at the finger grooves, Morgan. I used to think cataloguing beyond a certain number was just busywork, but @sean_cooper58 posted something similar about details bringing a site to life, and it clicked for me. Now I can spot which kiln a piece came from just by the mica flecks in the clay, and it feels like I'm reading a diary rather than counting shards.