Dang, I swore not to write another comment on HISTARCH today... but the  GenX 
comment on toy soldiers got me thinking. For sure, a glut of plastic  
soldiers, cowboys, and Indians flooded local grocery markets and toy stores in  the 
1950s; space aliens were all the rage in the 1960s; and Star Wars cropped up  
in the 1990s. 
 
What makes this relevant to the thread was an archaeological survey I  
conducted in the rural town of Carlsbad in 1973. While climbing over bushes and  
forcing my way through dense manzanita, I came into an opening with a veritable  
army engaging in an infantry assault on a hill. The entire scene fascinated 
me,  as the plastic soldiers were a wider variety than I had as a kid. There 
were  World War II German soldiers defending the hill and British and American  
attacking. I almost filled out a field form to document the sighting, but then  
realized my client would not see the humor in such a use of his money. 
 
This also reminds me of a visit to Paul Schumacher's house in Burlingame,  
just outside of San Francisco, California. He had enormous armies of lead and  
pewter soldiers in his basement. He also had an entire circus in a window well. 
 I distinctly recall a parade of elephants and Indian regulars that proceeded 
 over a 8-foot length of plywood. 
 
So you see, it is not just children who play with toy soldiers. And, in  
truth, I cannot say if both genders created that battle scene at Carlsbad. Now I  
am wondering if these toy features found on surveys should be recorded for  
future scientific study?
 
Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.