Watching a grad student brush dirt off a jawbone at a dig near Abilene totally changed how I clean my garden tools

Iris Henderson · 2026-10-02T16:55:03.636012+00:00

Two summers ago I volunteered on a dig outside Abilene, Texas for 10 days and the slowest job on site was this one grad student using a wooden stick and a soft brush on a bison jawbone, maybe an inch of dirt per hour. I kept thinking about how I'd have blasted that thing with a hose in my own backyard. Now when I pull arrowheads or old bottle caps out of my flower beds, I use a toothbrush and a spray bottle instead of the garden hose, and I've stopped scratching stuff up. Does anyone here do their own small digs at home, and what do you keep in your kit?

Rigidtalk

Loading…

Watching a grad student brush dirt off a jawbone at a dig near Abilene totally changed how I clean my garden tools | Archaeology Discoveries - Rigidtalk