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Encyclopedia of Geoarchaeology pp 199–205Cite as

Dumps and Landfill

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Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

Synonyms

Areas of designated waste management; Designated discard or refuse zones (public or private); Managed sites for waste processing and/or surface construction

Definition

Landfills are designed and modified sites for recycling postconsumer waste. They are regulated depositories whose function is dictated by statutes. Regulation is concerned with issues of contamination and groundwater. Refuse must be buried. Landfills can also be considered structural features of the terrain as their design is aimed to level or reconfigure topography of a landform or landscape.

Dumps are unregulated loci for discard on a variety of scales. They may be open facilities initially and become landfills when regulatory mechanisms are imposed and implemented. Dumps are initially proposed as sites for refuse deposition, and they may be considered activity areas in an archaeological sense.

Since landfills are the products of relatively recent and large sediment redeposition (often with the use of heavy...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geoarchaeology Research Associates, 5912 Spencer Avenue, Yonkers, NY, 10471, USA

    Joseph Schuldenrein

Authors
  1. Joseph Schuldenrein
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joseph Schuldenrein .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fordham University, Bronx, NY, USA

    Allan S. Gilbert

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Schuldenrein, J. (2017). Dumps and Landfill. In: Gilbert, A.S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geoarchaeology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4409-0_132

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