The University of Kentucky Program for Archaeological Research investigated
an early 20th century dump site in the Coaltown of Jenkins and a 1940s
military dump site at an Army base.  Both revealed substantial information
about specific "general" populations.  In many cases for 20th century sites,
landfills or dumps may be our only option to recover much material culture
from a time when disposing of trash in your yard was becoming uncommon.

As to the value of studying the 20th century archaeologically, I guess it is
up to the individual archaeologist.  But, if you can't justify spending tax
money to excavate 20th century dump, then you would probably have a hard
time justifying archaeology altogether.  For those of us who did not get
into archaeology for the money (I can't imagine that anyone did), we have
all asked ourselves why are we doing this?  We have all justified it to
ourselves somehow.  We have all justified taking tax money for something
that is not an essential necessity for human survival (unless some of us
have convinced ourselves that it is a necessity).  When we start making
judgments on the value of certain archaeology projects, we stop thinking
like archaeologists and more like the people who want to cut funding for the
arts and who want to abolish section 106.  Perhaps, we could go back to the
days when independently wealthy men interpreted the past.


Mike,

The above mentioned projects have reports that are available from:

The University of Kentucky Program For Archaeological Research
(859) 257-1944



M. Jay Stottman
Kentucky Archaeological Survey


----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, August 02, 2000 7:22 PM
Subject: Landfill Site Reference Request


> We are undertaking a project involving excavation of a portion of an
> extremely large (perhaps, at one time, several hundred meters by several
> hundred meters in size) landfill site near Salt Lake City that dates ca.
> 1932-1942.  The portions of the dump which were excavated reached depths
of
> 13 - 15 feet of solid domestic trash (very little soil mixed in).
>
> Do persons on the list know of other landfill or large dump sites which
have
> been excavated and reported on?  Are there references which could be
useful
> as comparisons with such a site?  Rathjie's materials are known about.
> Perhaps there are other helpful suggestions?  Thanks for any help which
may
> be offered.
>
> Mike Polk
> Sagebrush Consultants, L.L.C.
> Ogden, Utah