I'll cast my vote for the "whim" or expedient disposal area of trash -
having done so myself many times just so I could keep working and not have
to litter the place and pick it up later.  When I tore up a c. 1930s
concrete patio once we found that the whole underlayment was trash
consisting of bottles, wire, blocks of scrap wood, paper, coal ash, etc. -
it made great fill.

        Dan W.


At 04:48 PM 11/11/01 -0500, you wrote:
>UPSIDE DOWN BOTTLES
>
>For those of you who followed the garage-concrete rock faced construction
>block discussion interesting you might also be interested in our most
>recent find.
>
>We are still excavating the garage foundation walls make of concrete
>blocks. Each block has two internal holes or cavaties. On Friday we
>found two whole bottle had been placed in one of these holes upside
>down. The bottles(6" high) which are identical, are clear glass, medicine
>form, empty but with remnants of corks still in place. The only embossed
>lettering is on the base:
>
>          C - Cedar
>         10
>          MADE IN USA
>The "e" in Cedar is set inside the larger "C".
>
>Two Questions:
>
>        (1) can anyone help with the bottle identification?
>
>        (2) does anyone know of other examples of early (probably
>late teens or early 1920s) 20th century traditions of builders or workers
>putting such items in open spaces, especially in foundations? It may not be
>magic, perhaps just a whim, but it was certainly done
>on purpose.
>                                Bob Schuyler
>Robert L. Schuyler
>University of Pennsylvania Museum
>33rd & Spruce Streets
>Philadelphia, PA l9l04-6324
>
>Tel: (215) 898-6965
>Fax: (215) 898-0657
>[log in to unmask]
>