This is exactly what archaeology has come to in the 21st century and it is shocking that this is a surprise.  The National Historic Preservation Act lays it out pretty clear, 50 years old makes it significant. We often seem to forget that those folks that filled in the 18th century privies, and created the lithic scatters were merely going about there daily lives. I refuse to believe that either one of those is more significant than the other, and logically feel the same about an early twentieth century dump be it along the tracks, or behind a mountain farmstead.  I think this does raise an interesting question as to the future of archaeology, and the role CRM will take on in 20 to 50 years?  What happens when the big plantations are dug up and the Williamsburg's are fully reconstructed?  Will the public support the archaeology of the an early filling station?

Josh Duncan
The Center for Historic Preservation at Mary Washington College.  

>>> [log in to unmask] 10/16/02 08:07PM >>>
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