In the coming of age movie The Graduate Dustin Hoffman was offered all sorts of career advice, most notably to pursue a career in plastics--"one word, plastics!" Indeed, plastics have become a huge industry that has altered how we live. Unfortunately, plastics have also become a major source of pollution, so much so that states have outlawed the use of plastic bags for retail stores. Our environment is full of plastic litter. There are even large floating flotillas of plastic in our oceans that kill aquatic life and end up on our beaches.
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Antiquity magazine recently reported that an Iron Age fort in Wales, Castell Henllys, a well maintained archaeological site has seen an inordinate amount of plastic litter. Saying,
Plastic entering the archaeological and geological record may be the defining signature of the Anthropocene. Amidst the growing awareness of the role of plastic in marine pollution, this study demonstrates its terrestrial ubiquity. The excavation of two experimentally reconstructed roundhouses built on their original sites at Castell Henllys Iron Age fort, Wales, reveals evidence of 30 years of heritage interpretation and visitor activity. The nature and extent of the cultural material recovered accurately reflects known activities at this heritage site, but also reveals an unexpected amount of plastic debris in archaeological contexts, indicating how, even in well-managed contexts, plastic is entering terrestrial deposits. The Iron Age in the Plastic Age: Anthropocene signatures at Castell Henllys
So places we meticulously clean and maintain are still barraged with plastic litter. Sad.
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