106. Site identification

In my experience there are two kinds of bottle site. Sometimes the same location may have been used, but the contexts of use are nonetheless different:

Type 1: Local drinking spots

These are typified by their ease of access to a community rather than by remoteness, since there is usually no incentive to travel any further than is necessary in order to imbibe. Any location that is fronted by a body of water is potentially suitable for an undisturbed drinking session, and the empties are of course quite likely to end up baptised. Candidate sites can be narrowed down by taking into account this matter of convenience. For example, in urban and suburban areas the presence of a wall is generally appealing to drinkers. If it is low enough it can be sat upon; if it is high enough it can be sat against and used to shield the participants from view. Old walls along old waterfronts can indicate good hunting ground, and the waters may be comparatively clean. I usually find jetties to be promising...fishing and drinking have a long and venerable shared history. Also it isn't just boozers who do the drinking - many a site also contains antique pop bottles deposited by local kids, and some of these (such as the Edwardian Rose's lime juice bottles) can be quite ornate.

Rural areas often host farming populations with toil-dried throats to be slaked, and so remoteness from towns on the map is not in itself a reason to discount a potential bottle diving site. In these regions ponds and sinkholes are excellent candidates and I find it is well worth consulting old maps and records to assess the age of them...my best finds so far have come about this way. Coves along lakeshores, especially those screened from a road by trees, may offer similar potential. However it is important to bear in mind that these latter sites, if they are only reachable by car from the nearest habitation, are unlikely to yield bottles of any real antiquity.Incidentally I have found that smaller bottles tend to be found closer in to shore, whereas larger bottles can be found anywhere up to about fifteen metres out. I suppose that there may be a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, it might be that larger bottles can be given more welly so they arc out further. Secondly they are heavier, and I reckon this may cause them to roll down a bit more before settling.

Type 2: Dumps

Humans always seem to have favoured large bodies of water to dump their refuse in, whether it be shells in the loch surrounding an iron-age crannog, old pots in the moat around a castle, or expired refrigerators and busted microwaves in the local canal. In a sense water makes for the perfect midden - there is no eyesore to remind the dumpee of their material incontinence, nor any need for the vain and idle practitioner to dig a hole.

One thing that fascinates me is the way people appear to sort out their junk before they dump it. For example one of my favourite sites, as well as containing bottles and jars, also contains an inordinate number of old boots and shoes...dozens and dozens of them. I really don't know why this should be, but it is probably the result of phased dumping - one person or group dumped the glassware, while another (or the same at a different time) had a clear-out of boots and possibly clothes, of which only the shoe-leather has survived. It seems to be part of the human condition to sort and classify things, even junk. The modern recycling bins for holding different materials may appear to be inconvenient, but the principles they depend upon are germane to our nature.

Dumps are unlike drinking sites in that they contain all sorts of refuse, not just bottles. However there is one enormous thing in the bottle hunter's favour - glass lasts far longer than most other materials. Dumps also increase the likelihood of finding other forms of glassware such as jars - I once found two Kilner jars, perfectly intact, that had been chucked in the lake for some reason. It is surprising what people will throw away...a great many of the bottles I have found had deposits on them to encourage their return to the bottling plant, but they still found their way into the drink.

The key features in the location of a dump seem to be accessibility and forgettability. People will usually dump things in quantity, unless they have a single heavy item that they want to be shot of. For smaller items, such as empty jars and bottles, they'll wait until they have a clear-out and a good sackful to make the journey worthwhile. This means that they are carrying a load, and they won't want to go very far with it...just far enough to tip the contents out of sight and out of mind. This is where rural areas come into their own for the bottle diver. These regions have never had municipal dumps, nor were there ever any rag-and-bone men to call. If there is a nearby lake, or any sort of hole with water in it, then it would be surprising if it has not been seasoned with junk at some stage.