A ceramic specialist in Santa Fe told me my pot shard sorting was way off

I was digging a site near Santa Fe last month and this older woman from the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture walked over to my sorting table. She watched me for maybe two minutes and asked why I was grouping by color instead of by paste composition. I had no good answer because I just learned it that way from a field school. She explained that color can change from firing conditions but the clay recipe tells you the real story about trade networks. So now I spend more time looking at temper materials and inclusions. I missed a whole layer of info for three seasons of digging. Anyone else get a bad habit like this from an early teacher or mentor?

3 comments

3 Comments

felixhenderson14d ago

We all learned from someone who was just winging it.

-1

olivia67014d ago

Is it really that deep though? I mean sure, we all pick things up from someone who's just figuring it out as they go. But doesn't that kind of describe most of life if you think about it? My grandfather taught me how to change a tire and he was definitely just making it up as he went, bless his heart. Maybe it's not such a big deal to admit we're all sort of stumbling through it.

daniel_cooper3414d ago

Honestly that's kind of a freeing way to look at it lol.