In a message dated 3/21/2007 11:57:43 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

trash/waste used as fills, or even piles of garbage
("refuse"?) that  accumulate without any purpose...


Hmm, now you've lost me. First I read that historic sites are not included  
in the OED as eligible for qualifying as "middens" because they are not ancient 
 (a truly subjective term). Now I read that decomposed trash and garbage  
that accumulates in a soil (churned or otherwise) is also not eligible for  
classifying as midden. But, if the soil turns dark from decomposed organics and  is 
mixed with other cultural waste and is associated with a human activity, how  
can we define it as something other than midden? As I asked Jeannette, what 
then  do you define as midden?
 
This kind of goes back to the old saying, "if it quacks like a  duck...."
 
Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.



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