Volunteer dig in Ohio changed how I date pottery shards

I spent last summer at a dig near Columbus and got scolded hard by the site lead for relying on rim shape alone to date a whole layer. She said I was mixing up Late Woodland and Fort Ancient pieces because I ignored the temper material in the clay. Switched to checking grit type and firing marks under a cheap magnifier and suddenly my layer assignments stopped getting redlined. Now I bring a 10x loop everywhere and cross-check with the local survey reports before I even open my mouth. Has anyone else had a mentor totally wreck their dating method and make them better for it?

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williamschmidt2d ago

Used to be a rim guy through and through, thought that was the only thing that mattered until a field school supervisor made me sit with a bag of misfired sherds for an hour. She pointed out how the same shape could come from totally different clay recipes and told me to stop being lazy with my eyes. Been checking for crushed shell versus grit in the paste ever since, and my finds are way more solid now. That one chewing out shifted how I look at every single piece I pick up.

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