How finding old pottery in my yard shifted my view on local digs

I was digging in my garden last week and found some broken pieces of old pottery. At first, I figured it was just junk. But then I remembered that our area was once a farming community. In my experience, stuff like this can tell us a lot about the past. For example, down the street, they found old bottle glass from the 1900s when they did sewer work. It made me see that archaeology isn't just in books, it's right under our feet. Your mileage may vary, but I feel we should pay more attention to these small finds.

3 comments

3 Comments

elizabeth_gonzalez2mo ago

My cousin in Albuquerque found a whole set of dentures buried near his fence line last spring. They looked ancient, but the dentist said they were from like the 1970s. It totally messed with his idea that his land had some wild old history. That stuff is cool, but it also shows how easy it is to jump to conclusions. Your pottery chips probably have a real story, but sometimes the story is just that people threw away their garbage. We get excited about digging things up, but the truth is often pretty plain.

the_amy2mo ago

Used to get excited about every little thing I dug up. Now I just assume it's someone's old trash until proven otherwise.

leet292mo ago

It's easy to get carried away with ideas about history when you find something old. I had a similar thing happen when I dug up a broken bottle in my garden. I was sure it was from the 1800s, but it was just a common medicine bottle from the 1950s. We imagine wild tales, but the truth is usually boring. That denture find is a perfect example. It reminds me to keep my expectations low when I'm digging around.