Met a retired archaeologist at a diner in New Mexico

He pulled out a flint scraper from his pocket, said he found it near Chaco Canyon in the 70s. Had me hold it too - crazy to think someone used that tool 1,000 years ago. Anyone else ever get to touch an artifact like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

jordan_henderson132d ago

Man that's awesome, just tell future folks to make sure and ask first before touching stuff like that.

paige_robinson242d ago

The thing nobody talks about is how that kind of casual interaction is getting rarer and rarer. Most archaeologists today would never hand a random stranger an artifact, way too worried about legal stuff or damaging it. But back then, that guy probably figured a regular person holding a scraper for ten seconds would leave a bigger impression than any museum display ever could. You basically got a time travel moment that the professionals have now locked behind glass cases and liability forms. Kinda depressing when you think about it, but at least you got the real experience.

grant.olivia2d ago

Read a piece a while back that argued archaeologists are basically scared of their own shadow now, worried a tourist will drop a pot shard and sue them. Reminds me of that old saying about how you can't just trust people with nice things anymore.