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Date: | Tue, 7 Mar 2006 21:59:33 -0500 |
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George,
While contemplating what to do with a plastic airplane excavated from a
street deposit at Old Town State Historic Park, San Diego in 1978, I noticed the
texture and feel of the plastic differed from plastic in my auto. I consulted
a chemist who examined the plastic airplane and stated that early plastic
chemistry evolved very rapidly, especially in the post war era. More
importantly, she said that nearly every plastic injected into a commercial mold had
been patented first. She suggested that I have a portion of the airplane
dissolved to determine the particular chemical composition and then search the
plastic patents to determine who created it and when. Although a fascinating idea
with substantial implications for future archaeology, I knew California State
Parks would not give a rat's tail when the plastic airplane got deposited in
the street deposit of San Diego Avenue. I filed the information away in the
"Zebra File" of my brain with the assumption that when I get older someone may
some day have a need to know about the chemical history of a plastic
artifact. Has the day come when someone would care enough to fund the chemical
analysis of drinking straws or plastic airplanes?
Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.
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