My sore back story from a Viking age excavation

I was helping dig at a Viking age site last month. We uncovered a longhouse floor, which was pretty cool. While kneeling to brush away soil, I tweaked my back badly (it still twinges sometimes). The funny part is, right after I stood up groaning, my friend found a carved antler comb. So I missed the big moment because I was stuck stretching. Now I do warm-ups before any field work, no joke. Archaeology can be rough on the body, but the finds make it worth it.

4 comments

4 Comments

felixmoore13h ago

Hurt my knee once while digging at a Roman site. I was so focused on a wall foundation that I missed the coin my buddy found right beside me. Now I make sure to move around more during digs, lol.

danielk731h ago

Totally get the moving around thing, man. Last summer I was so locked in on a pottery scatter I missed a perfect bead literally under my trowel handle. Tessa's right about how we miss the obvious next to us, it's wild. My neck was killing me from being hunched in one spot all day.

tessa_owens13h ago

Notice how we fixate on one goal and miss the obvious sitting right beside it.

abby_martinez1h ago

I mean yeah but stuff like that happens on digs all the time, idk if it's some big lesson. You tweak your back, you miss a comb for a second, then you see it anyway. Maybe it's just me but turning it into a story about missing the obvious feels like a stretch. People get sore and distracted doing any physical work, it doesn't always mean something. Just stretch next time.

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