When I was a kid/teenager I was really into going through old homesteads to collect the old bottles and snuff jars. I've got boxes of them to this day. I owned, and still own a good metal detector and had a blast digging up old tools, square head nails, etc. Some of the old dwellings pre-dated the Alamo and for Texas, that was some old stuff. I worked a summer in Louisville, Ky and was taken in by a pro bottle digger. There I learned how to spot old privies and trash dumps at construction sites. The river traffic brought down amazing things that go back to the early 1700's, that were tossed in those pits. A couple of "eagle flasks" were unearthed which were the holy grail of bottles back then.
I still occasionally dig around in the homestead behind the house. There have been native American burial sites discovered around here, which get 'un-discovered' real quick to avoid vandals. There is a field near here that is an arrow head mine....every year when the owner plows, you can spot the points as the sun glints off them. I have no idea why so many are in that one spot.
Ain't old trash fun! Imagine the delight of archaeologists 1000 years from now, after they strike a current day landfill.