Rathje, a former Bandersnatch contributor back in the 1960's before he grew up and got some sense, studies modern urban archeology. Those who study ancient civilizations look a ancient trash piles. Dr. Rathje and his students look at modern trash piles. What Rathje and his students have uncovered is interesting. Landfills can be dated by layers of old yellow pages from phone books, sort of like tree rings.
Landfills are among some of the largest man-made structures on earth.
There is a landfill in northern New Jersey whose cubic volume rivals the pyramids in Egypt. A lot of stuff thrown away doesn't decompose. It just stays there. Dr. Rathje has impressive pictures of 20 year old food dug out of dumps. And, at least to us, the most interesting thing was what was not found in American landfills.