A dig volunteer at Poverty Point told me to quit scrubbing my pottery sherds with a toothbrush

Angela Butler · 2026-10-18T20:55:05.00975+00:00

Last month I was volunteering at the Poverty Point site in Louisiana and kept scrubbing every sherd clean with a toothbrush before bagging it. A lab tech finally pulled me aside and told me "you are washing off the story," because residue and soil traces on the surface can show what was cooked or stored inside. I switched to dry brushing with a soft brush and bagging the dirt separately with a note on the tag. Now I leave most of the surface alone and let the lab decide what to clean under a scope. Has anyone else had a field tech correct their cleaning habits like this?

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A dig volunteer at Poverty Point told me to quit scrubbing my pottery sherds with a toothbrush | Archaeology Discoveries - Librear