I have been watching reruns of the British show "Time Team" and have been enjoying it very much. I found many episodes on YouTube. Anyway, they keep looking for dateable material in a dig by which they can assign the age of something, like a structure or a skeleton. Being archaeologists, they are obsessed with it and rightly so. The diggers are surrounded by a bevy of "experts." I mean no disrespect. I looked these guys up and found they truly are experts. They have the ability to examine a dinky bit of pottery, about the size of a matchbook, and proclaim, "Ah yes, late third to early fourth century. About 270 to 320 AD." These guys are good.

So, following in their footsteps, I am conducting some urban archaeology in our house. The upstairs thermostat indicated the battery was dead, so I pulled the holder and had a look. "Ah, yes. Early 21st century. About January, 2019." Nailed it!

Actually, I date a lot of the consumables around the house just for curiosity. A bottle of contact lens cleaner lasts almost exactly three months. A ninety dose bottle of Vitamin D3 lasts exactly three months. Dang, I'm good.