Atlanta, Georgia has been a major hub for soft drink production since the rise of the industry at the turn of the 20th century. The world’s most popular soft drink, Coca-Cola, originated in Atlanta, and was first bottled in 1899, which attracted its lesser-known competitors and knockoffs from the surrounding Southeast and beyond. In this presentation, I discuss my work in analyzing the soft drink industry of 20th-century Atlanta based on the bottles, fragments, cans, and bottle caps found in the MARTA Archaeological Collection, an array of 100,000 artifacts excavated by Georgia State University alongside the construction of Atlanta's commuter rail in the 1970s. The study is within the realm of historical archaeology, which the Society for Historical Archaeology defines as "the study of the material remains of past societies that also left behind some other form of historical evidence" and "attempt[s] to discover the fabric of common everyday life in the past." Academic research on soft drink history and archaeology is scarce, but it is a relatable topic to the public. Throughout my ongoing research, I have compiled a catalog of all 350+ relevant artifacts from 54 brands spanning from 1900 to the 1970s, and by utilizing associated historical research, I can use the data to find possible socioeconomic preferences, patterns, and trends among Atlanta's consumers and industry alike. The scope of the collection presents substantial data for tracking brands throughout the time and space of 20th-century Atlanta to uncover an untold history of the Southeastern soft drink industry and its role in the city’s history.
From Bottling Plant to Buried Trash: Archaeology of Atlanta’s Soft Drink Industry
Category
Student Abstract Submission