Dump digging

Finding evidence of potential antique bottle dumps or middens is done by searching areas where it is likely that older garbage was deposited.

Not unlike the privies, cisterns and wells that other historical diggers explore and salvage in, dumps are typically temporary sources.

A high percentage of these dump discoveries are routinely found in severe states of decay, damaged or broken altogether.

Through the common process known as tipping, vast amounts of refuse generated by towns and cities were dumped into harbors, along marshy shorelines and other areas while forming viable real estate cheaply.

active waterways were also frequently converted into major dumping spots for household and industrial refuse; but they are generally impossible to reach without expensive equipment.

Glassware and pottery found in an old dump in Meaford, Ontario
A clay pipe discovered while excavating an old bottle dump (ca. 1870)