melted bottles

[doctorscotland]

i found a small dump by a large pre victorian house in bristol today.
i found lots of bits and pieces - inkpots, beer bottles, poisons, some doulton bottles etc.
unfortunately, most of the glassware had been melted, presumably in some sort of incinerator.and the pot lids were busted, as was all the stoneware.
does anyone know if this type of burning was standard practice for a place like this?
or did i just get really unlucky, finding a burnt out dump?

 

[CanadianBoy]

Most dumps you run across anywhere on the planet,will have ash layers to dig through.
So yes, burning was a way of destroying waste & germs and also making room for yet more trash or rubbish.
I would say ,keep digging the layers and you may find things left whole,the deeper you dig.

 

[Yooper14]

I agree. There are multiple burn layers at most dumps. Some bottle survive, some don't! Luck of the draw. In fact, I excavated a late 1800s home which had totally burned to the ground. All items were still in it. Some of the bottles were melted into conglomerate lumps, while others looked brand new. Luck of the draw, again!!
Yooper

 

[doctorscotland]

cheers for the replies - thought this one might be something to forget about -next time ill take a fork and have a good dig!