My pottery sherd sorting got way faster after a weird tip from a retired geologist

I was spending hours on end trying to separate Roman-era pottery from medieval stuff at a site near Chester last month, mixing up similar glazes left and right. Then an old guy who used to work with soil samples told me to lick the sherds - apparently wetting them brings out way better color and texture differences, and it actually worked on about 60% of my tricky pieces. Has anyone else tried this or got a better field trick for quick identification?

3 comments

3 Comments

hill.troy3mo ago

Wait, isn't that just the same trick people use with rocks and minerals? I've seen guys at gem shows spit on stones to see their true color better. Guess it works on old pots too.

quinn_king163mo ago

Yeah I read somewhere that archaeologists use this trick to check for repairs in ancient pottery too. The moisture highlights cracks and different clay patches you'd never see dry.

umac712mo ago

Spit definitely brings out the details better than water for some reason... I used it on a batch of greyware and suddenly saw mica specks I'd missed for days. Makes a mess of your hands but cuts sorting time way down once you get the hang of it.