Saturday, February 16, 2008

Beer Can Archaeology

As I said in the previous post, artifacts and features that are older than 50 years get treated as historic resources in our survey. That means we get to paw through a lot of 20th Century trash heaps. I am a confirmed prehistorian and I have to admit that this isn't exactly my cup of tea, but I am fortunate to work with quite a few people who can look at the bottom of a old glass Chlorox bottle and tell you within five years or so when it was made. So my colleague Juston here was pretty darned excited to come across this cache of old cone top beer cans.

Here's a closer view of Juston's haul, cone tops prominently displayed around a 1970s pull-tab can, a flat top "church key" type, and what appears to be an oil filter. There was enough of the label remaining on the cone top at the far left to identify it as Eastside Beer, brewed by the Los Angeles Brewing Company.

1 comment:

Pete said...

if you put these cans in a solution of oxalic acid - most of the rust will come off - revealing the label - there is a message board devoted to people who do just that - www.therustybunch.com
check it out....
pete