On my first field school my professor made sure we knew what we were looking for, especially when we were walking across the fields looking for things. We had already learned how to spot debitage (waste material from making projectile points) but looking for things like rock shelters, and windbreaks is a little different and if you aren't looking for them because you are too busy looking at your feet for a tiny flake of obsidian you will miss them, despite how big they are. You have to keep your search parameters open.
On the Nauvoo dig, I was sometimes amazed at how much people didn't see when we asked them to screen the dirt. I would help them and immediately pull out a chip of earthenware or a piece of glass from the dirt they had been staring at for minutes. I kind of felt guilty, but really it was just because I was more used to what I was looking for, I already had the search parameters down.
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| A piece of Native American pottery, that pretty much looks like a rock. |
Just like it is easier to find bits of glass in dirt when you know what to look for, I think other things are like that as well. When I looked for miracles I found them. When I looked for reasons to be annoyed, I found them. Perhaps the problem is not so much in what is around you, but what you are looking for.
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