I found that in the early 20th century there were many methods of garbage
disposal that were tried by cities.  At least in Louisville, they tried to
use an incenerator in the early 1900s, which required the separation of
combustable and non-combustable trash.  From sites of this time period, I
find a lot of ashes, clinker and glass in old cisterns and privies.  These
materials were not collected and were required to be separated from the
regular trash at that time.  This certainly left urban dwellers with the
problem of disposing of this stuff and demonstrates how significant the
waste disposal problem was and how the methods of dealing with it affects
our archaeology of that time period.


M. Jay Stottman
Kentucky Archaeological Survey


----- Original Message -----
From: Meta Janowitz <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 08, 2000 4:59 PM
Subject: Re: 20th Century Archaeology


> The current thread on Histarch has generated some discussion among those
of
> us who grew up in the 40s and 50s on the topic of burn barrels.  At least
> here in the New York/New Jersey area, burn barrels seem to have been an
> almost universal feature of back yards.  [A burn barrel was a large (about
> 4 feet high) metal barrel where a household would put papers and other
> thrash -- and the definition of what was suitable other trash seems to
vary
> widely.  The stuff would be burned down once a week or so and the ashes
> left to accumulate until the level got too high for safe burning.]
> Garbage collection was available but burn barrels were used anyway.
> Municipalities started passing laws against burning garbage in the 1960s,
I
> think, but does anyone have any thoughts on this practice?
> Meta Janowitz