Just realized how much a broken trowel in Turkey changed my digging style

I was on a dig near Ephesus last fall and my main pointing trowel snapped clean in half on a hard clay layer. I had to finish the day using a smaller, wider plasterer's trowel from the local market. It forced me to scrape more than slice, and I actually uncovered a tiny bronze coin fragment I would have missed with my old method. Now I keep both types in my kit. Anyone else have a tool failure that made you work differently?

3 comments

3 Comments

diana64114d ago

Ever try that new style on a different type of soil?

margaretj4013d ago

What new style are we talking about? I'm lost.

casey84313d ago

My buddy Mark had his screen collapse on a wet site in Cornwall. He ended up sifting by hand for a whole afternoon and found three Roman nails in one spot. That makes me wonder, @diana641, if a wet clay would grab those coins better with a scrape.