>Mike Polk wrote

>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).


I have only done small test pits in late nineteenth century rubbish dumps,
where more than 90% of the fill contents is soil or other bulk mineral
(such as coal ash from locomotives) In these conditions the
ceramic/glass/metal artefacts are almost all that is recognisabe, with a
little bone and wood. I Would be interested in hearing what comes out of
such an artefact-rich context.

Gary Vines

Melbourne's Living Museum of the West
P.O. BOX 60 Highpoint City, 3032
Victoria, Australia
ph. +61 3 93183544
fax. +61 3 93181039
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www.livingmuseum.org.au