The difference between dig photos from the 1970s and now is wild

I was looking through some old issues of Archaeology magazine at the library last week and there was this spread comparing a dig at Çatalhöyük in the early 70s to the same site today. Back then you had these black and white photos of guys in khakis and wide brim hats just shoveling dirt into buckets, no grid system you could see, just a big hole in the ground. Now you go to the same site and there's lasers mapping every square inch, soil samples getting bagged and labeled in plastic, and everyone wears these bright safety vests and kneepads. The tools are fancier but I wonder if they find more stuff now or just document it better. The article said that old dig found maybe 20 figurines over two seasons, while last year they turned up over 60 in one month with better screening methods. What changed the most for me is how careful they are now compared to back then it was almost like they were digging for treasure instead of history. Has anyone else noticed how much slower but more thorough modern digs seem compared to the old photos?

2 comments

2 Comments

jade_hernandez16d ago

Realized something looking at those old vs new photos that nobody mentions, the whole way they date things has flipped. In the 70s they were digging based on surface features and gut feelings, basically just picking spots that looked promising. Now with ground penetrating radar and magnetometry they map the whole area underground before touching a shovel. That Çatalhöyük comparison is perfect because they wasted years digging in the wrong spots back then, no wonder they only found 20 figurines. The slower pace is actually them being smarter, like spending a week scanning before cutting into the dirt saves you from destroying stuff you didn't know was there.

markm2716d ago

Not sure I buy that it's that big of a deal. @jade_hernandez People act like they were throwing darts blindfolded in the 70s. Gut feelings and surface features actually found plenty of major sites. We still wouldn't know about things like the Nazca Lines without people just looking at the ground from a hill. All this fancy tech just means they spend more time staring at screens than actually digging.