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At Time Team America, the most dramatic moments of archaeology often come from the process of excavation: deciding where to dig, working together as a team, trying to beat the clock.
Still, you can't argue with the pure thrill of uncovering a very special find. We asked some Time Team America team members about their most heart-pounding discoveries to date.
Dr. Adrien Hannus The Clovis points and bone tools associated with a mammoth kill/butchering location called the Lange/Ferguson site on a ranch within the White River Badlands of South Dakota.
Eric Deetz In 10 seasons at James Fort, the site of the 1607 English settlement I was lucky enough to dig up truly amazing artifacts such as 15th century armor, Elizabethan coins, not to mention being one of the crew that found the fort itself. But the one find that really sticks in my mind is a jeton or casting counter (jetons were used to keep count much like an abacus) made by Hans Krauwinkle at the end of the 16th century. On one side was the goddess Fortuna and the other was Fama the goddess of fame. Fame and fortune - exactly what the colonists were seeking in 1607 and to a degree what we as archaeologists are seeking as well.
Chelsea Rose I love finding clay pipes. I am not sure why, they are not very rare or fancy, but is always exciting to find one. I think it may be because when you find a pipe, you not only found something someone owned and used, but something they put in their mouth. Now that is the kind of personal connection that makes archaeology so cool -- 200 year old spit.
Dr. Julie Schablitsky I have yet to have my best find. Since moving to the east coast, my dream is to find a wig curler. I am sure it is just a matter of time....I just hope I don't mistake it for a porcelain doll leg.
Dr. Meg Watters A Roman Villa in Vescovio Italy, or no, wait... a Nubian temple in Gebel Barkal, Sudan or was it the shaft tomb on the Giza Plateau??
Editors' note: She's not kidding.
Are you on a parallel wig-curler quest? Do clay pipes get you going, too? Or are you simply seeking more fame and fortune?
Post your favorite find story below or at www.facebook.com/timeteamamerica.
Photo by Meg Gaillard.
My favourite artifact was the first one I found - a very ordinary piece of Glades Plain pottery. Nothing special to the experienced archaeologist, but the thrill of a lifetime for me, and it was on my 50th birthday too!
When I was a kid my buddy and I found the ankle bone of a mastadon in the river below my home where we were swimming. We donated it to OMSI in exchange for a one time family pass to the museum.
Years later I called to see if they still had it but it was lost in the move to the new building.
I would love to be involved in helping in some way at an Archaeological dig.
An obsidian lamellar blade found in a Middle Woodland habitation site in cental Illinois. My main interest in archaeology has always been prehistoric trade and exchange, and holding in my hand evidence that the Native Americans of over 1500 years ago had trade relationships that reached all the way from Illinois to Wyoming (obsidian sourced to what is now Yellowstone)was an intellectual thrill I'll never forget.
The most interestingly fun thing and a very simple find was in Stoughton WI. I took a group of middle school students to a recently plowed field where we looked for shards and arrow heads. We found one very well formed paleo arrow head right next to a very recent modern arrowhead/point. We had past and present in the same spot. The students were able to compare who times/tools have changed yet stayed the same. The small find brought on much conversation with the students about what it might have been like then compared to now. Making a living verse recreational hunting.
I'm an avocational archaeologist. In the early 1990's I borrowed a collection of pottery sherds which had been collected from a spot where I, as a Forest Fire Officer for the State of Michigan, had plowed fire-control lines in the 1970's. I cleaned and analyzed the sherds, and assigned them cultural and temporal affiliations based on decorative style and construction materials. During this process, I made a life-changing discovery. While cleaning one sherd, I found a perfectly preserved imprint of a small person's fingertip, left on the inner surface of the soft clay pot she was making. She had lived only 15 miles from my home, but had done so some 2000 years before my birth. I was brought to tears by an overwhelming sense of connection. You see, in my ancestry can be found members of the Ottawa tribe. They lived in the same area that this long-dead woman had lived. She and I may well be distantly related. And I held in my hand her fingerprint... ...And over 20 years since that very special moment in my life, I still find myself moved to tears as I write.
Archaeology is much more than mere science.
Dan A. Little