Wilson Butte Cave

It's in the Garbage

Objective: In their study of archeological concepts, students will analyze garbage from different places to:

1. Demonstrate competence in applying the concepts of culture, context, classification, observation and inference, and chronology; and
2. Explain how their study of garbage relates in the methods of archaeology.

Skills and Strategies: Application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation, scientific inquiry, problem solving, discussion, forecasting, research skills, writing

Materials: Filled wastebaskets or small garbage bags from several places in the school, home, or elsewhere, selected to represent rooms of different functions; plastic tarps are useful when spreading the garbage out. Undesirable and unsanitary items, such as used tissues or rotting food remains, should not be included. One “It’s in the Garbage” activity sheet for each group.

Background: The unusable or unwanted remnants of everyday life end up in the garbage. By studying what people have thrown away, archaeologists can learn a great deal about a culture. This is true not only of prehistoric peoples who left no written record about their lives, but also of people today. Bill Rathje, an archaeologist, studies the garbage of Americans. He has learned many things about the relationships of human behavior and trash disposal, information useful in studying of the past and the present. He has found that people will often tell an interviewer what they believe is appropriate behavior, but their garbage tells another story. People frequently say they eat lots of fruit and vegetables, yet their garbage shows they do not. Another example is that people say they recycle more than they actually do (Rathje, 1984, p. 27). Just as we do not throw away our trash any old place, neither did prehistoric people. Their garbage heaps are called middens, and are a rich source of archaeological information about their lifeways.

Layers of trash also tell a story over time. Archaeologists excavate middens slowly and carefully, recording the location of each artifact and sample recovered from the midden. They analyze the tiny fragments of prehistoric meals (bone slivers, seed hulls, plant parts) and charcoal from cooking fires. The animals and plants these remains came from can be identified and archaeologists can learn very precise information about the economy of past people. If a midden is disturbed and the layers mixed, it becomes impossible to interpret the lifeways of past people. Vandals looking for artifacts dig in middens and they destroy irreplaceable information about the past. Everyone can help by not digging archaeological sites or collecting artifacts, by refusing to buy artifacts from people who do, and by always reporting anyone seen digging at sites or collecting artifacts to law enforcement.

A famous anthropologist, Franz Boas, reportedly said “…man never lies to his garage heap.” What do you think your family’s garbage could tell about you? (Examples: family size, income, preferred foods and activities).

Procedure:

1. Review the concepts of: culture, context, observations-inference, classification, and chronology before beginning this activity. Students will be applying these concepts to their study of garbage.

2. Explain to the students that they are going to be archaeologists, analyzing garbage, (middens) to learn about the people who threw it away. Demonstrate some of the information that can be learned from garbage by examining a small amount of trash from your classroom trash can: 

a. What culture is this garbage from? Could the garbage be mistaken for that of another culture? Is the garbage in your classroom trash the same or different from classroom garbage in China? Portugal? Your town 100 years ago? Are basic human needs represented in the trash?

b. What can you infer about the behavior of the thrower-awayers and the origin of the garbage based on your observations? Is cafeteria trash the same as that from the wood shop? the library? How is a single person’s garbage different from that of a family with many children? Is a vegetarian’s trash different from a meat eater’s?

c. Arrange the trash in chronological order. On the bottom is the oldest trash, on the top is the most recent garbage. If you find dated items through the trash, such as newspapers or postmarked envelopes or product dates, you can establish a precise date for the trash.

d. Sort the trash into piles based upon some type of similarity. This is a classification, perhaps including categories like paper, food containers, other office supplies.

e. The trash is obviously from a classroom because you have preserved its context, the relationship artifacts have to each other and the situation in which they occur. If you went to your town’s landfill, you might find some of the artifacts from your classroom trash but you could not interpret it as coming from your classroom because it has been all mixed up with trash from many other places. Its context has been lost.

3. Divide the class into groups of 4 to 6 students and give each group a bag of trash. The group analyzes their trash using the activity sheet “It’s in the Garbage”.

4. Students visit each other’s “middens,” and a spokes-person from each group present a summary of their findings.

This activity is from Intrigue of the Past: A Teacher’s Activity Guide for Fourth  through Seventh Grades. By Shelley Smith, Jeanne A. Moe, Kelly A. Letts, and Danielle P. Paterson.  Washington D.C.: United States Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management, 1993.

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TEACHER PAGES

The Mystery of WBC

Recent History of WBC 

Who were the First Americans?

What is Archaeology?
    Teacher Activities
     Archaeology FUNdamentals
    • How do Archaeologists Find 
       Sites?
    • Excavation and Documentation
    • At the Laboratory
    • How Old Is It?

What was found at WBC?

Daily Life at WBC  

When Ice was on the Land

Beringia 

Native American Perspective 

Glossary