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The field survey map I ignored for six years finally made sense
I was walking the same 40-acre grid outside Santa Fe that I've walked every spring since 2018. Last Tuesday, a washout from the recent rains exposed a line of rocks that looked too straight to be natural. I pulled out the old survey map from the 1987 dig report and realized I'd been walking past a buried wall segment the whole time. The map showed a structure that supposedly never existed, but the coordinates matched the rock line almost exactly. I spent two hours pacing off the distance and found pottery sherds at the spot where the map said the corner should be. Anyone else ever prove an old report right just by paying attention to the ground after a storm?
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fisher.thomas13d ago
Did the washout cut clean enough to show you the actual foundation line, or were you just matching up rocks that happened to fall in a row? Because I've had false starts with old maps before, and the difference between a real buried wall and a natural stone alignment can be really hard to tell, even with coordinates. The pottery sherds are a solid clue though, since that kind of stuff doesn't usually end up in a random line by accident. What kind of pottery was it, plain utility ware or something decorated? That might tell you if the wall was part of a living area or more of a work space. Also, any chance you marked that spot before the next storm washes it all away again?
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