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A park ranger in Mesa Verde pointed at a blackened ceiling and said that soot was 800 years old
I always figured ancient sites got cleaned up before museums studied them, but she said that soot layer is exactly how they dated the room, and now I want to know what other everyday messes scientists are using as clocks.
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mason.jordan13d ago
That soot thing is wild, had no clue they could date a room by the gunk on the ceiling. Had a similar moment at a cave site where the guide pointed out these little smoke stains and said they figured out how many fires got lit in there over centuries just from how thick the layers were. Blew my mind that the mess people left behind is basically the only record we have. Never thought about trash and grease being the whole reason we know anything about these places.
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