Used to dig with a shovel and guesswork, now I read dirt layers before I even break ground | Archaeology Discoveries

Eric Wright · 2026-09-22T10:05:03.483543+00:00

Three years ago I was the guy at a site in Cortez just digging holes and hoping to hit something. I thought finding stuff was about luck and a strong back. Then a retired surveyor showed me how to read the soil color changes and look for ash stains before touching a trowel. Last month at a small site outside Dolores I spotted a dark band in the wall of a washout and pulled a 1,000 year old fire pit out of it in under an hour. It is a small thing but it felt like a real step up. Any of you learn a field skill late that changed how you work?

🐿️Pinecone Attack

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Used to dig with a shovel and guesswork, now I read dirt layers before I even break ground | Archaeology Discoveries - Pinecone Attack