I concur with Dan, although if you are recording a site, a comprehensive
inventory is good - even if to demonstrate significance by what can be
eliminated as junk.
By the way, the drums are 44 gallon in Australia and were not manufactured
until the 1940s, probably as a consequence of war needs, and maybe in direct
response to US imports for military use during the latter part of the war.
Gary Vines
Archaeologist
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-----Original Message-----
From: Daniel H. Weiskotten [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, 17 October 2002 10:07 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: 55 gallon drums et al.
My God! is this what archaeology has come to in the 21st century?
Study of garbage strewn along rail roads in the 1940s?
Airport landing lights
Quonsett huts
55 gallon drums.
What ever happened to spending scarce CRM funds on tavern sites, NA camps,
blacksmiths shops, and other things that we really know very little about
and which interest the public who pays for it all?
Am I just being a crotchety old geezer (42) longing for the old days, or am
I astute enough to see a massive backlash coming against CRM in the near
future, brought on by spending tax dollars on finding the history things
that no one really is concerned about except that they are more than 50
years old. This is the crap that always told us that the good stuff was
tainted.
Yes, I know there are some people with interests in just about anything,
but just what direction is this really taking us?????
Dan W.
At 10/16/02 12:16 PM, you wrote:
>Histarch. . .
>
>A question about 55 gallon drums, those ubiquitous markers of former
>military presence in Alaska (usually found half buried in the muskeg
>with the bottoms rusted out. . .)
>
>On a recent survey at a WWII era airfield, we encountered a stack of
>drums, and I'm trying to determine an age for them. My suspicion is
>that they date to the WWII time frame, but I've never really found any
>good information of the dating of oil drums. These particular drums are
>of the form common today, with the cylinder sides molded from a single
>sheet of steel and the rolling rings raised out from the main body.
>However, there are also a series of smaller, barely-visible rings on
>either end of the cylinder, between each rolling ring and its respective
>end.
>
>Does anyone know if these smaller rings can be used to determine a time
>frame for these drums? Any references out there that I can cite?
>
>Thanks, folks!
>
>
>Kris Farmen
>Northern Land Use Research, Inc.
>Fairbanks, Alaska
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