Why does nobody talk about how much context matters when dating old pottery shards?

I overheard this lady at the field lab in Tucson last week talking about how a 'rare' Samian ware piece she found was probably just a tourist souvenir from the 1800s. Made me think about all the times I've seen folks get excited over a pretty rim piece without checking the soil layer or nearby features. Context tells you if it's actually old or just dropped by a farmer's kid. Anyone else run into misidentified finds because people skip the basic stratigraphy notes?

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troy_butler712d ago

Man, that really stings when you see folks miss the whole picture like that.