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I finally saw the difference in old field photos from my hometown dig
Went back to my folks place in Ohio last month and found a box of prints from the 1980s salvage dig they helped volunteer at. The site was a pioneer cemetery near Dayton, and the photos show the same plots I've been walking past for years. What really got me was comparing the field shots to my modern drone pics. Back then they had string grids and hand drawn maps, took weeks to get a halfway decent layout. Now I can map the whole acre in an afternoon with a GPS unit and some software. The old photos had this grit to them though, people elbow deep in mud, smoking cigarettes, wearing flannel. My crew wears hi-vis and complains about battery life. Not saying one is better, but I sort of miss the chaos. Has anyone else compared old site photos to their current workflow and felt that weird mix of progress and loss?
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walker.alex22d ago
Man that hit weirdly hard, it's like the same thing with my dad's old tools vs my cordless stuff. Everything got smoother but you lose that raw feeling of figuring it out as you go, ya know?
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anna_craig22d ago
Isn't it funny how the newer stuff just does the work for you? I keep my grandpa's old hand saw around just to remember how much elbow grease went into a straight cut. My power tools get the job done in half the time, but they don't give you that little win when you finally get the angle right by feel. It's like the machine takes the clever part away. I catch myself reaching for the rusty screwdriver just to feel the worn handle. That old stuff had character, you know?
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