Research conducted at Silcott, Washington, using makers' marks showed that
 ceramics dated about 22 years earlier than the bottles with which they were
 associated. Later research by Timothy Riordan at Fort Walla Walla indicated
 bottles lasted about 4.5 years from time of manufacture to disposal. I am
 interested in corresponding with individuals who have followed up on the
 problem of time lag. I am also interested to obtain case studies from tightly
 dated assemblages (like privy, shipwreck, etc.) showing that different kinds of
 items last longer in the cultural system.
 
The time lag problem is a serious one for historical archaeologists to accept,
 because basically it means that most sites which have been dated using
 artifacts may be wrong by as much as 30 years.
 
The Silcott study and the Fort Walla Walla studies referenced above are:
 
William H. Adams and Linda P. Gaw  1977  A model for determining time lag of
 ceramic artifacts. Northwest Anthropological Research Notes (2):218-31.
 
 Riordan, Timothy Benedict     1985     The Relative Economic Status of Black
 and White Regiments in the Pre-World War I Army: An Example from Fort Walla
 Walla, Washington. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Anthropology,
 Washington State University, Pullman.
 
 
William H. Adams
Adams & Associates
P.O. Box 1177
Philomath, OR 97370-1177  USA
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