Every archaeologist has several anecdotes to demonstrate that truism.
Our projects in archaeological research for the Village have been no exception. At the Stratton Tavern, for example, we looked for the refuse scatter in the kitchen dooryard and found instead a surprisingly well-preserved, very early ice cellar. We looked for the original access patterns to the front door and found not only that detail, but also an intricately designed bored-log water system. We looked into the earthen floor of the Brooks pottery site in Goshen, Connecticut, seeking the finely traced clues that would help us understand the potter's routines and placement of activities. We found not one shop floor, but two, stratigraphically displayed one above the other.