Archeologia zintegrowana. Paradygmat śmietnikowy
Integrated archaeology. The Garbage Paradigm

Summary/Abstract: The Garbage Project was instituted in 1973 by the archaeologist William Rathje and was aimed at studying behaviour patterns on the basis of people’s refuse from an archaeological perspective. From the start the study had a holistic and integrated approach. It not only analysed issues related to material culture, but to an equal extent it also dealt with mental attitudes towards consumption patterns and people’s perception of them. The project revealed a series of discrepancies between the information provided by people about their consumption habits and the actual data obtained from their waste. For example the number of alcoholic beverage containers found in their bins showed that they consumed between 40 and 60% more alcohol than they had actually declared. The reverse situation was observed in relation to hazardous household refuse, where for example the quantities of car oil found in bins were significantly lower than those declared by “machos”. The study led to the development of the First Principle of Food Waste: the more repetitive your diet - the less food you throw away. All types of special or unusual foods are more prone to end up in the rubbish bins because of the infrequent character of their consumption. This is also the reason why the amounts of food waste from Anglo-American households are significantly higher than that of Mexican-American ones. Despite the economic argument, it is a fact that while offering a great variety of dishes Mexican-American cuisine is based on simpler and more repetitively purchased components. An archaeology which is based on the garbage paradigm turns out to be extremely helpful in understanding the modern mechanisms that guide human behaviour. Although archaeology is commonly associated with our attempts to learn about the distant past, it can actually enhance our knowledge about the societies of today. And according to William Rathje, it is not necessary to wait for a social group to become extinct in order to study their behaviours which leave a trace in the environment. In other words, garbology should really be appreciated.

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