broken fragments

Clay shards. Over forty years ago, I set out with one goal: to collect shards from the Bronze Age, Roman times, and the Middle Ages. I then packed a small rucksack. I was fourteen or fifteen years old at the time, and I brought along just a little food. Then I took the train or bus in the direction of an excavation I knew of or near a field of which I had aerial photographs. I collected the shards from the freshly plowed field—the Rigol plow was the best because it plows very deep—and brought them home after many hours to wash them in the garden. Then I labeled them and put them with the others. It was like yesterday. I went by car instead. I went to Oberleiser Berg, an ancient settlement area where the Romans also had a camp deep in enemy territory. The shards I found yesterday are from the Bronze Age and Roman period. The older ones are clearly identifiable by the firing technique (layered firing) and the impurity of the clay. If the potter had known that his work would be honored after 4,000 years, he would not have been able to do anything with this knowledge. I can't really do anything with the shards either.