Hit 500 pottery sherds in one field season and it broke my brain

I've been digging at a Roman site near Colchester for the last 3 months. I stopped counting individual pieces after we pulled out 500 sherds from just one trench. It hit me that this was a whole family's trash pile from like 200 AD, and I was the one sorting through their dinner plates. Has anyone else had a number that just made the whole thing feel real?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_susan9d ago

Hold on, just wanted to gently correct something - it's "pottery sherds" (shards) not "sherds." I know it's a common mistake, even pro archaeologists mix them up sometimes. But that 500 number is wild though, I remember when I hit 300 pieces from a single pit in Chester and it felt like the ground was just giving me someone's entire kitchen. There's something about realizing every single curve and scratch was part of a real person's meal that really hits you differently. Sorting through all those rim pieces and handles, you start to picture their daily life so clearly it kind of freaks you out.

janac519d ago

The 500 pieces is crazy, but I've noticed the SAME thing in everyday life - like how my neighbor's entire family history is basically visible in the random Junk they threw out in their backyard over decades, from old toys to broken furniture. It's weird how everyday objects become a Time Capsule of someone's life.