You might check out some of the garbology (garbage archaeology) work from
William Rathje.  Some of his students did a study of "road-end behaviors"
a few years ago (don't know if this ever made it into a publication), exactly
the activities you are interested in.

Nicole Branton
University of Arizona,
Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests

>-- Original Message --
>Date:         Wed, 23 Jan 2002 13:20:46 -0800
>Reply-To: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY <[log in to unmask]>
>From: Kris Farmen <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject:      Help, please!
>To: [log in to unmask]
>
>
>Dear HISTARCH:
>
>This post goes out specifically to the Australian members of the list. .
>.
>
>I'm getting ready to apply to postgraduate archaeology programs in
>Australia and (MA by research), and am in the process of narrowing down
>my research interests.  One of my ideas for a project is to look at the
>historical archaeology of local party spots--those places where people
>(generally the youth of the community) go to build bonfires, fool
>around/fornicate, and get blitzed on liquor they're too young to have
>legally.  Some of these sites, at least in NSW and Tas. could
>potentially date as far back as the days of the currency lads (and
>lasses).
>
>My problem--which I'm posting to the list in search of some help--is
>that I'm having trouble narrowing this down to a specific research
>problem.  I doubt I'll get very far in my applications by explaining my
>research interest as "yeah, I think that it would be kinda cool to look
>at the archaeology of party spots."  I'm not necessarily asking people
>on the list to hand me a platter full of formulated research questions,
>I'm just looking for some thoughts that might point me in the right
>direction.  What sorts of useful information do you think such a study
>might yield?  Also, do any of our Australian list members know of any
>professors (in Oz) who might be interested in taking on this sort of
>project?
>
>Thanks very much, folks!
>
>
>Kris Farmen
>Northern Land Use Research, Inc.
>Fairbanks, Alaska