ARCHAEOLOGY IN OHIO
(CONTINUED)
I was given the opportunity to excavate a relatively large pottery
sherd during my first week. Usually, archaeologists use trowels to
dig, but for a large, fragile piece like this one, trowels are too sharp
and could damage the artifact. To excavate this sherd, I used a
plastic letter opener to dig around the outside edges, and a brush to
clear the dirt above and around the artifact.
This is what the sherd looked like after
being excavated and cleaned off with
water. While on site, artifacts are
cleaned with water and a tooth brush,
and we only clean the larger ones. All
artifacts go through a more extensive
cleaning and sorting process in the lab.
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