Bottle Digging as Archaeology

The Centre of East Anglian Studies at the University of East Anglia has been digging Victorian and Edwardian rubbish dumps in a community excavation project involving researchers, student diggers, and local history societies called What East Anglia Threw Away. This investigates a region through its rubbish in the era before World War I.

it brings together researchers, student diggers, and local history societies in the shared delights of exploring old rubbish dumps. After digging up refuse near the former schoolhouse in Bergh Apton, we identified the schoolmistress who threw it away, by examining the School Log. At Castle Rising, we excavated a dump abandoned at the outbreak of World War I, when the dustman went off to fight. Enhancing local knowledge, providing training for students, and forging links between regional researchers and the University are part of The Centre’s mission. We also hope to discover how products were transported around the region, what was consumed, and how systems of waste disposal have evolved to the present day.

There is a website which many interested in bygones will find interesting.

Hat tip Dorothy King