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The worst week of my dig life was in a Turkish field school
We spent five days carefully brushing away dirt from what looked like a big wall foundation. My supervisor got so excited, saying it could be part of a Hittite gate complex. On Friday, the professor came over, took one look, and said, 'That's a modern field boundary, kids.' The whole crew just deflated. Has anyone else had a 'big find' turn out to be totally nothing?
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blairc9021d ago
Actually, that sounds like a great week. You learned how to spot a modern feature, which is a useful skill. Better to find out in the field than write a whole paper on it.
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price.ben21d ago
Yeah, that's a classic story. I read an article a while back about a dig in England where they spent weeks on what they thought was a Roman road. Turns out it was just an old farm track from the 1800s, the stones were from a local quarry that operated way later. The lead archaeologist said it hurt at the time, but it's a normal part of the process. You have to get excited about the possibilities, or you'd never keep going. Sounds like you got a solid, if rough, lesson in context.
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blakestone21d ago
Man, that story hits hard. It makes you wonder how many "big finds" in old reports were just later stuff everyone got wrong. The real skill isn't just digging, it's being the first person on your team to admit something doesn't fit, even when you want it to. That's way tougher than it sounds. You ever read an old excavation write-up and just feel skeptical about their main conclusion?
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