"Isolated spoons"??  Not aware of this type of "find".  What about those
oddly bent utensils we find...??  Ury Geler (sp?) wannabees?  Ha ha.

Years back, we recovered an obscenely bent fork (tines) from a military
base latrine deposit.  Ha ha.

I'll expose more of my ignorance.  Is it 'typical' for items in a dump
site to be crushed, mashed...nearly beyond recognition?  To compact
things in some collection container, perhaps...before being dumped (or
incinerated?)??? Suggesting trash wasn't discarded daily.

Also, perhaps the 'kid collection' theory might explain why some of the
larger caliber rifle ammo casings are hammered flat (most just on the
body portion)...one so totally that the head portion is only 1/16" thk
now!  Also, one shotshell head was flattened (presumably by hammer) to
make it 4-sided (and the primer dislodged).  Boredom-induced
'creations'?

I didn't mention, there are also numerous pebbles in the same dump (as
numerous casings)....yet the dump was situated among a bedrock boulder
outcrop, not a drainage area.  I speculate that kids (or
adults?)...couldnt resist the temptation of 'plinking' (my term) at the
glistening bottles, minimally broken dishes, etc...with a slingshot.  ??
Anyone notice this evidence before?

>-----Original Message-----
>From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On 
>Behalf Of Leslie C. "Skip" Stewart-Abernathy
>Sent: Saturday, August 04, 2007 6:51 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: MNG - min. number of guns in a household
>
>Hi all.  Jim Deetz and others have pointed out that the kid 
>factor probably accounts for a lot of finds--those isolated 
>spoons being just one example he  used.  Yes, there were 
>children in the old days, regardless of how the Philipe Aries 
>debates are resolved.  And there were dogs, and chickens, and...
>
>At 01:36 PM 8/3/2007, you wrote:
>>Why the casings were gathered up and discarded in the dump puzzles me 
>>some tho.  But maybe this isnt Unusual behavior (only to 
>me)??  I just 
>>assumed (oops) that shells were left in the grass (let's say)...where 
>>they fell...by most shooters.
>>
>>I was wondering if perhaps one of the kids had gathered up a 
>>"collection" (as I know children do - picking up 
>"goodies"*)...since - 
>>of the shotshells specifically - there are just 1 or 2 of each 'make'
>>(brand model)...of 6 Different ammo making companies.  Not being a 
>>'shooter'...I am ignorant about the sport...but, I just assumed one 
>>bought a box full of 1 type of ammo...so what you shot would 
>all be the 
>>Same (at that episode; till the box was empty).  Then why would there 
>>be some 45 DIFFERENT product names in this household dump collection?
>>
>>All ideas welcome.  :o)