The Smell Won’t Be a Problem, Now
The Importance of Garbage in Archaeology
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Archaeologists usually get excited about trash. Trash heaps and latrines are always good finds for a wide range of artifacts. Mounds of trash are so important that they even have their own name: middens. After people settle in a location, they usually throw all their trash into concentrated areas, and the collection overtime provides insights into the entire lifespan of the community. At the time, people are just throwing away broken pots, animal bones or shells and not giving any thought to how this could be useful in the future. After all, how often do you think about your trash?
There are several things that archaeologists look for when studying a trash midden. One type of information comes from the position of the artifacts. As people throw their trash away the newest material lands on top. The arrangement of materials is called the Law of Superposition and means that the oldest artifacts can be found at the bottom of the mound. By arranging artifacts from newest to oldest, archaeologists can notice changes in a culture over time.
Archaeologists also look at the types of artifacts that were thrown away. Sometimes artifacts are classified by the material, shape or function. Classification allows archaeologists to study patterns, to figure out how things were made, or see what designs were most popular. Artifacts may have been used for long periods of time or made into different tools. For example, a broken piece of pottery, a sherd, could have been turned into a tool like a scraper or used to make a new pot. While most things found in a trash midden are broken, some pieces can still provide important information if examined carefully.
The importance of trash really comes down to what survives after people move away or change their lifestyles. Sometimes, the midden is the best place for preserving certain types of artifacts that would normally not be represented in other parts of the site. People tend to keep homes and community areas clean. And when a site is abandoned, people take their belongings with them, often leaving little for archaeologists to find. Regardless of the conditions, you never know what you will find when you start digging through the trash.
The Refuse of Your Life
- If you were to move out of your house right now, what would you leave behind?
- Would a trash pile or pit smell after 100 or 1,000 years?
- What types of artifacts would survive for a long time? Would those things have smelled when they were thrown away? Why or why not?
- Besides garbage dumps, where else can modern garbage be found?
- How can a community trash dump tell us about individuals?
Find the Meaning in Your Garbage
Materials: Trash, paper, something to write and draw with, and Garbage Analysis chart
- Make a chart for your garbage analysis and place this near the trash can. The chart should have three columns: one for drawings, one for observations and one for inferences. As each person throws away a piece of trash, they should draw a picture and write down a description of its features.
- At the end of the day, fill in the third column of the chart. Based on your observations, what can you infer about each item?
- Answer these questions to understand what your garbage says about your family or culture.
- By keeping track of when your garbage was thrown away, were you able to notice differences in activities throughout the day?
- Can you notice differences about what different people in your household threw away? For instance, did girls and boys or children and adults throw away different things? What does that tell us about their daily activities?
- What inferences can you make about your household from your garbage?
- Classify your garbage into categories. What category has the most items? What category has the least?
- Does your garbage represent your entire culture? Why or why not?
- What pieces of trash will last the longest? By only looking that this category, does it change the meaning behind the garbage?
- Think about how trash played a role at Town Creek. What types of things do you think people were throwing away at Town Creek? How many of those trash artifacts would have survived a thousand years? What do you think archaeologists learned from the garbage here?
- Alternatively, you can excavate your garbage at the end of the day, if it is safe to do so. Include drawings and descriptions of each artifact.
Contact Us
If you would like to suggest a topic for a future activity or if you have any questions about this post, please email us at towncreek@ncdcr.gov.
Resources
Price, Margo L, Patricia M. Samford and Vincas P. Steponaitis. 2001. Intrigue of the Past: North Carolina’s First Peoples, A Teacher’s Activity Guide for Fourth through Eighth Grades. Chapel Hill: Research Labs of Archaeology, University of North Carolina.
