#archaeology

I'm working on a small excavation at a Roman villa site and we uncovered a bunch of delicate pottery shards. They're still wet and a bit soft, and I've tried wiping them with cotton swabs but they still feel fragile. What are the best practices for cleaning them without breaking them? Also, I need to store them properly until I can bring them to the lab. Any tips on preservation or common mistakes to avoid? Thanks!

I misread the meter and overexposed by one stop. I shot a 135 roll of Kodak Tri‑X 400 on a 35mm SLR while documenting a Neolithic pottery shard. The meter read 1/200 at 400, but I set the shutter to 1/125 by mistake. After developing in D‑76 for 5:30 minutes, the print shows excessive grain and washed‑out contrast, with iron‑oxide stains faint. I tried: re‑checked the meter, reduced dev to 4:45, printed with 0.8 stop negative, and used 1.1 stop contrast filter. Still no improvement. Added: the meter was on 200, but I thought it was on 400, so the shutter was too slow.

so i've been grinding on the AMS 14c model 101 a lot lately, calibrating with intcal20, running oxalic acid stds.. i can do collagen extraction, ftir, micromorph, plus i know the thermo fisher delta v irms setup looking for any pi or field crew that needs a hand with sample prep, pre‑combustion, or just extra eyes on the data happy to volunteer, work nights, whatever also can help with gis layers (arcgis pro 3.2) or photogrammetry (agisoft metashape 1.8) if that'd be useful dm me or drop a reply here thx

so i was reading about these new excavations in egypt and it got me thinking... are we really doing it right? i mean all this focus on preserving the site and avoiding contamination but whats the point if were not actually learning anything new? seems like were just uncovering stuff to stick it in a museum and call it a day. shouldnt we be trying to get to the bottom of what actually happened at these sites? not just collecting artifacts but really understanding the context

I've been working on a site where the stratigraphy is all over the place due to modern construction. We're finding ceramics from different periods mixed together. Has anyone else dealt with this? What methods are most reliable for dating ceramics in these kinds of contexts?

i feel like we been overlooking the condition of some lesser known ancient sites rn, like their excavations arent even properly secured or documented lol maybe im just tired but cant help thinkin bout all the artifacts & structures just sitting there, slowly gettin damaged or lost

lol i just read about a new dig in the desert that uncovered a 4k year old city, but i can't find reliable sources any good books or articles? tbh i'm new to this and need pointers thanks??

so i was on this dig last week and we found some pretty cool artifacts but the way they were handling the site was kinda annoying. like they werent even using proper techniques to preserve the context of the finds. i mean i get it, time and budget constraints and all that but come on. youre basically destroying the very thing youre trying to learn from. and the worst part is theyre gonna publish their findings and nobody is gonna question the methodology. its just gonna be taken as fact. i dont know maybe im just being too sensitive but it seems like nobody cares about the actual archaeology anymore

I just realized I got the dates wrong in my last field report – the timestamps for a few layers were off by a day. I flagged it in a quick note but haven’t fully revised the official log yet.

Is it normal to keep a separate “corrections” section or just update the original notes later? I feel a little guilty about it, but I’m not sure if other people do the same or if there’s a better workflow.

Any thoughts?

I was combing through the XYZ excavation notes and realized I’d misread the stratigraphy table. Thought that layer was Pleistocene but it turns out it’s actually Middle Paleolithic. Turns out I’d mixed up the column headers and even logged the wrong date range. A big apologue to anyone who used that data. Anyone have a quick refresher on how we label those strata? 🤔

so i bragged about nailing the dating on that supposedly early minoan fresco during a debate last week lol turned out i was looking at a later restoration layer not the original painting 🤦‍♂️ i’d read a paper but mixed up the carbon‑14 range with the fresco’s pigment analysis—classic mix‑up. felt pretty dumb when someone dropped the correct stratigraphy timeline on me. guess i’ll double check source figures next time 🙈

i mean think about it rn we're still digging up the same old sites and getting the same old results whats new about pompeii tbh its just a tourist trap at this point we should be focusing on lesser known sites that could actually tell us something new imo the whole pompeii thing is just a relic of the past

ngl rn im reading about neolithic ceramics and i cant help but notice how some styles are super regional while others seem to pop up everywhere like whats up with that do other archaeology folks get this obsessed with specific artifacts or am i just weird

i feel like im always reading about the same places like pompeii or machu picchu lol what about you guys do you get fixated on one site or just browse thru everything

I'm still getting annoyed thinking about my last archaeology dig. We excavated this site that was supposed to be a significant find, but the whole process was poorly organised. The equipment was subpar and we couldn't even get a decent reading on the terrain. It's amazing how some teams still can't get it together. I swear, it's like they've never done this before. Doesn't anyone learn from past mistakes anymore?

i was reading about ancient greek pottery and i saw some pics of old vases with athletes, probably pankration or wrestling. one of them looked like they were wearing weird gloves. does anyone know if goalkeepers in ancient times wear any sort of protective gear? or are these just artistic liberties? been wondering about this all morning

Looking to build a calligraphy kit that seriously channels those ancient Mesopotamian scribes... but the modern options are all garbage, honestly. Why do so many 'professional-grade' nibs like the Speedball SA7 just feel... plasticky? I want something closer to those 1850s Reeves & Plume obliques, but my local art store only has the $2 Zebra nibs. Also, does anyone have experience with mixing iron gall ink? I tried the Edmund Sheppard version and my vellum just repelled it like... I don't even. What's the deal with binder ratios in historical formulas?? Need real recommendations from people who've actually done the replication work—not just TikTok aesthetes. Specifics on nib tapers and ink PH levels would be gold.