TIL that old trash heaps are gold mines for archaeologists

I always rolled my eyes when my professor talked about 'midden analysis' in class. Like, who cares about ancient garbage dumps? Then last summer I volunteered on a dig near a Roman fort in Chester, England. We spent three days sifting through what looked like a nasty pile of dirt and broken pottery. Turns out, they found fish bones from the Mediterranean and a glass bead from Syria in that same heap. Suddenly it clicked - these trash piles tell you about trade routes, what people actually ate, and how they lived day to day. The fancy temples and statues only show you the rich folks' version of history. Has anyone else had that moment where a boring site feature turned out to be way more interesting than the cool stuff?

2 comments

2 Comments

kelly.daniel1mo ago

My buddy Dave went through the same thing but on a medieval site in York. He complained for two days straight about digging through what they called a "cesspit" - basically an old poop hole. Then they pulled out a perfectly preserved leather shoe, a wooden dice, and like twenty cherry pits from it. The shoe had a hidden compartment in the heel where someone stashed a couple coins. Dave never shut up about that pit for the rest of the season.

hugo2381mo ago

Old poop hole" - cesspits are for waste, not toilet pits.