Pumped groundwater out of a Roman well site and lost a key artifact
Last Tuesday I was helping on a dig near Bath, England, where we were clearing a 1st century well. The pump we rented from a local rental yard kept sucking up mud and gravel, nothing crazy until the hose kicked sideways and sent a jet of water straight into the screening table. I saw a little bronze fibula brooch fly off into the overflow bucket and before I could yell, it went down the drain into the river. The site director gave me the cold stare for a solid minute, then just said 'well, that's one way to lose 40 pounds of artifact.' We spent the next three hours digging through the silt pile downstream with sieves, found half a Roman nail but no brooch. Has anyone else had a piece of history just vanish because of bad equipment or a dumb move like this?