When she was real little, my youngest daughter got obsessed about finding an arrowhead. She'd follow my wife around the garden... is dis one, momma? Wife was getting a little annoyed because, frankly, western Oregon where we are is covered in so much organic duff that something dropped even 20 years ago is several inches under "ground"... but damned if that kid didn't find a bird point!
When I was digging the trench fir the perimeter foundation for my studio building I cut across a fire ring about 18" down. Always wondered about that.
In New Mexico, as Mudhen will attest, stuff just lays there for centuries. I know areas just loaded with shards and broken points. Finding the good stuff is a different matter. In the 70's, when it was still legal, I participated in some evacuations that resulted in whole pots- or funeral pots with the bottom broken out.
