I remember the South article, in American Antiquity, I believe, part of
a series organized by Binford on home to observe normative patterns of
behavior at short-occupation sites, hence the pull tab counts at modern
hunters' camp sites.

I think South also mentioned the existence of pull tabs as an excellent
example of the horizon phenomenon, which it certainly is--they have a
known date (1963) and point of inception, as detailed in these posts,
they spread very rapidly, were ubiquitous, and then disappeared
rapidly--one of the fattest battleships ever.  Being made of aluminum,
they constitute a marker for "1963 to c. 1985" (I'm closing them out in
1985 based upon personal observation--I know a few are still out there,
but they were no longer present in number sufficient to support the
horizon after that date).  A thousand years from now, our remote
professional posterity will hit the "pull tab level," and know that they
are looking at US.

D. Babson.


-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sean
Dunham
Sent: Friday, September 16, 2005 10:50 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Pull Tab Typology

Hello,

A colleague mentioned a pull tab typology that could be used to
identify the brand of beer or soda pop based on the pull tab, but
couldn't recall the source.  I was curious if this was something out of
can collector circles or maybe out of something like Rathje's garbage
project.  Does anyone have any insight or know of any references on the
subject?

Thanks in advance,

Sean

Sean B. Dunham, RPA
Commonwealth Cultural Resources Group, Inc.
Phone:  517-788-3550 / FAX:  517-788-6594
e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
http://www.ccrginc.com