Garbage Analysis Exercise                  The vast majority of archaeological materials are garbage: discarded stone tools, left-overs of meals, a broken ceramic vessel,…

Garbage Analysis Exercise                 

 

The vast majority of archaeological materials are garbage: discarded stone tools, left-overs of meals, a broken ceramic vessel, are all artifacts in the same sense that a discarded Coke can is an artifact. Prehistoric artifact “middens” (trash pits) are simply collections of refuse that contained food remains, domestic trash, as well as objects accidentally misplaced or lost. In antiquity, many cities were literally built on heaping piles of refuse covered with soil as a means to constructively utilize garbage. In modern times, the shape of coastal United States cities such as Boston, New York, and San Francisco have been transformed in the last 300 years by the dumping of garbage into costal bays, dumping that significantly extended the land mass of those cities.  In the Washington, D.C. area, the town of Alexandria, Virginia extended its land into the Potomac River by creating fill made of dirt and trash that extended the city limits several blocks.

 

The interpretation of all that garbage is the focus of much archaeological analysis. So the question becomes what if archaeologists in the future dug up our garbage? What would they think of early twenty-first century people? This exercise interprets modern ‘archaeological’ data – someone’s trash. A list of the recovered date and some archaeological excavation context are provided in this handout. You should use that data, along with your Feder textbook, to answer the questions in this assignment.

 

There is no maximum or minimum that you have to write. However, your answers should be your own (no group work), be logical, and be clear. Clear answers will specify what archaeological material culture is being used to support your interpretations.

 

You may write your paper as a list like 1. Answer 2. Answer, or you may answer the questions as complete paragraphs. Use whatever writing style is best for you. BUT you must cite your sources, no matter if it is the assignment (Edwards-Hewitt 2013) or the textbook (Feder 2011).

 

You may also wish to use credible web pages (Local or U.S. Government information on locations, income, or scholastic archaeological sites, company web pages.) You CAN look up these brands on the official company web sites for your paper. As with all assignments for this class, Wikipedia is NOT an acceptable source. NO MATTER WHAT YOU USE – CITE YOUR SOURCES!

 

Please be thorough – be clear about how specific pieces of material culture support your answer for each question. That is, USE EXAMPLES that support your interpretation. If you think there may be other ways of interpreting the data, be sure to include that. Part of good archaeological methodology is recognizing that we do not have all the information we want or need to fully interpret the past.

 

In addition to requiring you to use your brain, this assignment should also be an interesting way to look at our current culture from an archaeological point of view.

 

Questions to answer:

 

1.  What type of deposit is it?

 

2.  In or after what year was this assemblage deposited? How did you decide on that date? During what time of year was the assemblage deposited? What artifacts suggests that to you? Is there any evidence for seasonal activities that might not have occurred during other parts of the year? What artifacts suggest this?

 

3.  How would you characterize the different types of artifacts?  (food related, entertainment, ritual, employment related, personal grooming, other?) Be sure to list all the types found. (What categories would you put the artifacts into?) Why would you choose those categories? You can create your own categories

 

4. What are the majority types of artifacts found at the site? (food related, entertainment, ritual, employment related, personal grooming, other?)

 

5.  List some of the ecofacts found at this archaeological site.

 

6.  How many people do you think lived in this residence? What artifacts suggest this to you? Be specific. What ages and genders appear to be represented in this household? What artifacts suggest that to you? You are using the archaeological assemblage to answer this question. Is it possible to interpret the gender of these inhabitants in another way than you interpreted it?

 

7.  How would you characterize the household’s income based on this material culture? What sorts of material culture appears tell us their economic standing and in what way?

 

8.  What types of activities seem to be represented in the household?

 

9.  Based on your analysis, how would you characterize their diet? What range of foods do they appear to eat? How healthy is their diet? Does their diet appear expensive? Cheap? What does their diet suggest about their lifestyle?

 

10.  Is there any specific artifact or type of artifact that you wish was in the archaeological assemblage but was not present? Why would you find that artifact helpful in your analysis?

 

10. Because we are in the year 2615, old newspapers and other print material from the past often decay. If you did not have access to old newspapers or government records, what other methods can you use to support your interpretation of the archaeological site?

 

11. Knowing that this archaeological site is approximately 600 years old, and assuming you had unlimited funding, what dating technique would you like to use on material from this site? Why would you like to use that technique? What material would you test? (HINT: Look at your textbook Chapter 2)

 

Excavation at Gaithersburg

During the year 2615 archaeological excavating season at now abandoned mid-Atlantic region of North America, you identify a rare twenty-first century domestic site that was known as an “apartment complex.” At this site you uncover two undisturbed receptacles of material culture. The receptacles are typical of the period: high density plasticine-based potpourri-scented 13 gallon “kitchen bag.”

 

Luckily, these receptacles preserved their contents well. All wrappers and glass or plastic containers, even if their contents were consumed, were preserved. Specialists know that this style of receptacle dates to the 1990s or later, during the late-Hedonistic period. Archaeologists who specialize in this period know that such receptacles usually were used to construct heaping middens that formed rich ecozones predominated by aviafauna and rodents.

 

During this excavation, two bags remained in the space they were originally collected, so we can actually attribute the assemblage to a particular household. These bags were recovered from a single stratigraphic layer within the food preparation zone, what was referred to in this culture as a “kitchen” (this was before food replicators.) Therefore we can safely infer that the deposit almost certainly was formed by a single household; however we have no other information on the inhabitants and are compelled to rely on your archaeological expertise in the analysis of this culture. It is assumed that you as an archaeological research have full access to written and online sources available from the time period of the assemblage.

 

Archaeological Assemblage

Each object recovered in the assemblage is listed by the type of good (e.g., milk), brand or manufacturer whenever possible (Pillsbury), container type (e.g., paper, plastic), remains of any product where left unconsumed (e.g. half-filled bottle of pickles). The material culture is listed in no particular order. Some archaeological explanations of the goods are listed in brackets are several entries [like this].

 

2 egg shells

 

5 Huggies Supreme brand diapers, weight class 26-34 pounds, used

 

4 plastic wrappers, Old El Paso brand green chili burritos

 

1 half-gallon Shop Rite brand chocolate ice cream, empty

 

2 coffee filters each containing 4 ounces ground Caffe Del Sol coffee (saturated during brewing) with empty coffee bag

 

1 box Annie’s Shells and While Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese 7 ounces, empty

 

1 32 ounce plastic bottle Gatorade brand sport drink, empty

 

1 half-gallon plastic container Stonyfield Farms Organic Whole Milk purchased from Harris Teeter, empty

 

3 12 oz bottles Sam Adams Winter Ale, empty

 

1 empty 3-foot square, unevenly ripped fragment of paper with pictures of midgets with red pointed hats in cold weather clothing cavorting in a winter landscape

 

3 12 oz bottles Guinness Stout, empty

 

4 5.5 oz cans Precise Feline Hairball Formula, empty

 

1 cellophane wrapper for 6 ounces Gouda cheese from Harris Teeter, containing roughly 3 ounces remaining with thick mold growth on surface

 

1 cellophane wrapper to large Wild Oats focaccia

 

1 paper bag from McDonalds, containing two paper boxes for “Big Mac” type hamburgers, each containing roughly one-quarter of an uneaten hamburger), two paper bags for french fries, 17 uneaten french fries, five unopened salt packets, six unused napkins, three packets unopened catsup, one packet opened catsup, one Happy Meal box shredded with unintelligible pen markings

 

1 yard of plastic green vine with leaves

 

1 store receipt for “Summer in San Francisco” Barbie from FAO Schwarz (cost $79.98, charged to Mastercard)

 

2 automatic teller machine banking transaction receipts dated 11/06/10 and 11/20/10, each for withdrawal of $20.00 (account balance $898.33 on 11/06/10 and $523.45 on 11/20/10)

 

1 32 ounce jar, Pace brand hot salsa, several ounces remaining with mold growth affixed to vessel interior rim

 

38 sections of unidentified brand of paper towel saturated with alcohol-based lemon-scented cleaner: several sections covered with egg stains

 

1 paper booklet “Showcase of Montgomery County Homes” containing illustrations of structures through the region

 

6 3 oz cans Petguard Premium Feast Dinner

 

1 paper catalog from Road Runner Sports

 

1 unopened paper envelope from Citibank

with certified mail receipt attached

 

1 empty 12 ounce bottle and six empty vessel paper container for Monteith’s Porter

 

1 paper tag from Levi Strauss brand women’s jeans, size 12 relaxed fit style

 

1 paper catalog from Performance Bike

 

1 package Krusteaz Sourdough bread machine mix

 

1 Cambria Bicycle Outfitters catalog

 

1 7 oz box Panda Licorice chews

 

1 Brookstone store catalog

 

1 empty 12 oz box of Good-N-Plenty candy

 

1 package Hungry Man Classic Fried Chicken

 

1 package Don Miguel El Charrito Grande Beef Enchilades 

 

1 10 ounce container Barbasol Sensitive Skin shaving cream, empty, rusted base

 

1 paper magazine, Entertainment Weekly, cover detached, dated November 28, 2010

 

1 32 ounce container Oregon Chai Tea Latte concentrate purchased from Harris Teeter

 

12 paper envelopes, 11 opened (all empty and from separate addresses); one opened containing paper card of lithograph of hoofed animals in flight and indecipherable ink-inscribed message on interior

 

1 partial cover from November [rest of date information missing] issue of National Enquirer

 

1 unopened paper envelope from Sierra Club

 

4 Power Bar wrappers

 

1 child’s incisor, wrapped in cotton ball

 

1 paper box from dozen Krispy Kreme Original glazed doughnuts

 

1 empty prescription bottle from CVS for Colesevelam (brand name Welchol)

 

7 fragments of orange peel that can be reconstructed into a single orange

 

2 8.3 ounces cans Red Bull Energy Drink, empty

 

1 ink pen, one end extensively modified by human teeth marks

 

1 box Kraft Easy-Mac, empty

 

1 4.4 ounce box Tofu Burger Fantastic Foods, empty

 

1 63 ounce plastic bottle of Pepsi-Cola, empty

 

1 empty five pound bag of white rice, empty

 1 unopened paper envelope from Citibank 

1 empty plastic bag from FAO Schwarz

 

1 paper cash register receipt from Blockbuster for $9.00 movie rental of three selections The City of Lost Children, The Muppet Christmas Carol, and the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya due December 3, 2012

 

1 carved wood rectangular box, hollowed, from single piece of wood. Box has circular opening at one end and four small carved openings at less than ½ inch from same side. Image of box below. In faded red letters on one side in ½” letters “Choo-Choo” is printed. On one side in 1/8” blue color pigments are the words “Made in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, U.S.A.”