Garbage Analysis Exercise

The vast majority of archaeological materials are garbage: discarded stone tools, left-overs of meals, a broken ceramic vessel, are all artifacts in the same sense that a discarded Coke can is an artifact. Prehistoric artifact "middens" (trash pits) are simply collections of refuse that contained food remains, domestic trash, as well as objects accidentally misplaced or lost. In antiquity, many cities were literally built on heaping piles of refuse covered with soil as a means to constructively utilize garbage. In modern times, the shape of coastal United States cities such as Boston, New York, and San Francisco have been transformed in the last 300 years by the dumping of garbage into costal bays, dumping that significantly extended the land mass of those cities. In the Washington, D.C. area, the town of Alexandria, Virginia extended its land into the Potomac River by creating fill made of dirt and trash that extended the city limits several blocks.

The interpretation of all that garbage is the focus of much archaeological analysis. So the question becomes what if archaeologists in the future dug up our garbage? What would they think of early twenty-first century people? This exercise interprets modern ‘archaeological' data - someone's trash. A list of the recovered date and some archaeological excavation context are provided in this handout. You should use that data, along with your Feder textbook, to answer the questions in this assignment.

There is no maximum or minimum that you have to write. However, your answers should be your own (no group work), be logical, and be clear. Clear answers will specify what archaeological material culture is being used to support your interpretations.

You may write your paper as a list like 1. Answer 2. Answer, or you may answer the questions as complete paragraphs. Use whatever writing style is best for you. BUT you must cite your sources, no matter if it is the assignment (Edwards-Hewitt 2013) or the textbook (Feder 2011).

You may also wish to use credible web pages (Local or U.S. Government information on locations, income, or scholastic archaeological sites, company web pages.) You CAN look up these brands on the official company web sites for your paper. As with all assignments for this class, Wikipedia is NOT an acceptable source. NO MATTER WHAT YOU USE - CITE YOUR SOURCES!

Please be thorough - be clear about how specific pieces of material culture support your answer for each question. That is, USE EXAMPLES that support your interpretation. If you think there may be other ways of interpreting the data, be sure to include that. Part of good archaeological methodology is recognizing that we do not have all the information we want or need to fully interpret the past.

In addition to requiring you to use your brain, this assignment should also be an interesting way to look at our current culture from an archaeological point of view.

Questions to answer:

1. What type of deposit is it?

2. In or after what year was this assemblage deposited? How did you decide on that date? During what time of year was the assemblage deposited? What artifacts suggests that to you? Is there any evidence for seasonal activities that might not have occurred during other parts of the year? What artifacts suggest this?

3. How would you characterize the different types of artifacts? (food related, entertainment, ritual, employment related, personal grooming, other?) Be sure to list all the types found. (What categories would you put the artifacts into?) Why would you choose those categories? You can create your own categories

4. What are the majority types of artifacts found at the site? (food related, entertainment, ritual, employment related, personal grooming, other?)

5. List some of the ecofacts found at this archaeological site.

6. How many people do you think lived in this residence? What artifacts suggest this to you? Be specific. What ages and genders appear to be represented in this household? What artifacts suggest that to you? You are using the archaeological assemblage to answer this question. Is it possible to interpret the gender of these inhabitants in another way than you interpreted it?

7. How would you characterize the household's income based on this material culture? What sorts of material culture appears tell us their economic standing and in what way?

8. What types of activities seem to be represented in the household?

9. Based on your analysis, how would you characterize their diet? What range of foods do they appear to eat? How healthy is their diet? Does their diet appear expensive? Cheap? What does their diet suggest about their lifestyle?

10. Is there any specific artifact or type of artifact that you wish was in the archaeological assemblage but was not present? Why would you find that artifact helpful in your analysis?

11. Because we are in the year 2615, old newspapers and other print material from the past often decay. If you did not have access to old newspapers or government records, what other methods can you use to support your interpretation of the archaeological site?

12. Knowing that this archaeological site is approximately 600 years old, and assuming you had unlimited funding, what dating technique would you like to use on material from this site? Why would you like to use that technique? What material would you test?