Broke a 2000-year-old pot learning to use dental picks on a dig in New Mexico

Everyone kept telling me to use soft brushes for removing dirt around fragile artifacts, but I found that a fine dental pick actually worked better for getting into tight cracks without damaging the surface. I tried it on a partial amphora from a Pueblo site, and the dirt came off clean without any chipping. Has anyone else found that the popular method isn't always the best for certain soil types?

3 comments

3 Comments

patricialee1mo ago

Did you try wetting the clay first or just go straight in with the pick?

jamesf411mo ago

Wait, you actually broke a 2000-year-old pot? That's crazy... I can't believe nobody warned you about the pick slipping first. Those Pueblo pots are super brittle after sitting in the ground for that long, one wrong angle and poof, gone. The soil out in New Mexico is no joke either, all packed tight and full of tiny rocks. Maybe the trick is to go even slower on the pressure, like barely touching it...

ellis.leo1mo ago

Man, that reminds me of something wild that happened to a buddy of mine out in Arizona. He was working on a Hohokam site and everyone told him to use a soft brush too, but the dirt was this super hard clay that just wouldn't budge. He grabbed a dental pick out of frustration, and it was like a total game changer for him. The dirt cracked right off and the pottery underneath was perfect. Sometimes you just gotta trust your gut and not the textbook advice.