Start the Week Hay Festival: exposing the secrets of rubbish
14 snips
May 26, 2025 
In this engaging conversation, archaeologist Chloë Duckworth discusses how discarded items reveal our past and shape our present. Business journalist Saabira Chaudhuri dives into her book, revealing how brands exploited single-use plastics for profit, shaping consumer habits. Paleobiologist Sarah Gabbott explores what today's waste could become in the distant future, introducing the concept of 'techno-fossils'. Together, they shed light on the social, environmental, and historical narratives behind what we throw away.
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Discarded Items Define Cultures
- Archaeologists mostly find discarded items rather than valued possessions, shaping our understanding of past cultures mainly through what was thrown away.
- Organic materials like textiles rarely survive archaeologically, requiring imagination to interpret ancient lifestyles.
Ancient Local Waste Management
- Monte Testaccio in Rome is a huge artificial hill built from discarded Roman amphorae, illustrating ancient waste management.
- Unlike modern centralized disposal, past waste was often managed locally, with reused building materials minimizing rubbish.
History of Recycling Revealed
- Recycling in ancient times was likely more common than previously believed, seen in archaeological tell sites where debris accumulated over millennia.
- These accumulation layers allow archaeologists to trace continuous human settlement and evolving material use.
