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c/archaeology-discoveriessimon378simon3784d agoProlific Poster

Overheard a ranger at Mesa Verde say most pottery shards get tossed back

I was hiking at Mesa Verde last month and caught a park ranger telling a group they find hundreds of pottery shards each year but rebury most of them to preserve context. That really made me think about how much archaeological material stays hidden on purpose. Do you think it's better to leave artifacts in the ground or bring them up for study?
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caseyl18
caseyl184d ago
Ranger's right, all about preserving the soil layers so future tech can tell the real story. If you yank everything out, you lose that puzzle.
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irishenderson
Hundreds of shards and they just throw them back in the dirt?
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