Got called out for using a metal trowel on a delicate Roman floor mosaic

I was helping at a dig near York last summer and my supervisor said, 'You're scraping away history with that thing, use wood or plastic.' I switched to a bamboo tool the next day and the difference in preserving the tiny tesserae was huge. What's the most basic tool mistake you've seen someone make on a site?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_lee3d ago

Ever see someone try to clean a find with a wire brush? I mean, watching someone scrub at a coin or a piece of pottery with one of those is just painful. The scratches are permanent and it can strip away any surviving surface detail.

mason.margaret3d ago

Saw a museum conservator talk about this once. She said using a wire brush is basically like taking sandpaper to history, @the_lee. It doesn't clean, it just grinds away the actual object and leaves deep marks. That detail on the surface is the whole story of the piece. Once it's gone, you can't get it back, and all you're left with is a scratched up bit of metal or clay. It makes me wince every time I see it happen.