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That volunteer at the dig site told me stone tools can't be dated by shape alone
That volunteer at the dig site told me stone tools can't be dated by shape alone. I was working a small excavation outside Flagstaff last spring when this older guy, maybe 70, picked up a handaxe and said my whole method was off. He spent 10 minutes showing me how edge wear patterns tell more than typology ever will, and pointed out microflaking I'd missed entirely. Has anyone else had an amateur correct them in a way that actually changed how you work?
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derekgibson4d ago
My buddy Ryan had this happen at a site in New Mexico last summer. Some guy in his late 60s walked up while he was logging projectile points and pointed out a bunch of tiny resharpening marks he'd totally missed. Ryan said it humbled him real quick, lol.
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kelly_henderson833d ago
Yeah, but didn't he feel kinda dumb after that? It's wild how easy it is to miss those tiny details when you're in the field. That old guy probably saw stuff Ryan woulda never caught in a million years.
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