Dump Digging

Dump digging refers to the practice of excavating old garbage sites. From beachcombing with metal detectors to digging through 18th-century outhouse contents, whatever the location, dump diggers share a common pursuit—unearthing items that people threw away in the past. Dump diggers also refer to themselves as “historical diggers” to highlight the differences between their work and professional archaeology, particularly garbology. Unlike archaeological garbologists, dump diggers normally search for intact items of historical interest, particularly household artifacts like glass and ceramics, leaving shards or scraps behind. Other dump diggers search for military relics, buttons, stoneware, and coins. Motivations for dump digging range [Page 195]from recreation to improving private collections and commercial sale.

Dump diggers are usually hobbyists, though some supplement their incomes by selling excavated materials at antique fairs and on the Internet. Dump diggers measure the value of the artifacts they find based on the objects’ “collectiblity.” To measure collectibility, diggers visit antiquarian shows and public gatherings, circulating photographs and stories about what they find. For example, glass bottles from the mid-1800s are exciting dig finds and popular collectors’ items because diggers know that during this period, the United States saw a boom in the production of commercial medicines and home remedies, many of which were sold in glass bottles. During the same era, glassblowing and bottle manufacture evolved rapidly. Dump diggers value medicine bottles not only for the unique advertisements and labels they bear but also because 19th-century glassblowers constructed them using a range of ingredients and blowing techniques.