ID of trash.... chemical?

[maverick06]

Location:
about 12" down, in the backyard of my house. The house was built in the 1950's. Prior to that it was a large property owned by someone who raised horses. Unknown if this area was used for anything. Hilly area of the philadelphia suburbs.

Found:
Rusted metal. Metal appears to be very rusted, hardly anything left. Probably thin to begin with. Possibly a metal can of some sort. No paper/lables left. Outside of metal is so deteriorated there is no identifying material on it. the metal is also mangled, cant even identify a shape. I know the area was bulldozed shortly after the house was made, not sure if thats related.

When you try to remove the metal, the "inside" portion has a pink/magenta and a turquoise substance. The material has the consistency of dirt. I have no idea what the material is. it has no strength to it, no smell nothing.

Any thoughts what it might be? I cant figure what would be burried in my back yard, and being that i have a few garden beds around the yard, i am not too happy. I dug out whatever that stuff is, and landfilled it. But this is the second thing of this color i found (definitely not natural).

The yard is full of trash. Nails every few feet, I even found the rollers from a garage door burried in the backyard (maybe burned an old door?). And all the plumbing for a disassembled bathtub under the firewood pile.... and a piclic table buried under the compost pile.

Thought would be appreciated. Mainly worried about toxic stuff in the ground...

Rick

 

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[Dan1033]

Maybe the bulldozers demolished stuff and buried all the junk. That's the only reason I can think of for rollers, plumbing and a picnic table to be underground. The blue and pink substance might be paint. Over time the paint would have mixed with the dirt and rain and it's smell would have faded. Hard to guess.

 

[GoldieLocks]

Soap residue?

 

[boogeyman]

Was there a corral or stall where you dug this? Horse urine my other guess would be residue from cleaning paint brushes / rollers. "the "inside" portion has a pink/magenta and a turquoise substance. The material has the consistency of dirt. I have no idea what the material is."Got a paint store near? Take the can down there and let them have a look. Sometimes older cheap water base paint will separate into the base & added tints after a few years.

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

Check if the property ever burned it might be debris from a house fire and dozing it under would have been the common thing back then, they didn't think about the toxins it would put in the soil. Or it could have been the trash pit? People weren't as knowledgeable back then as to what it could to them or others. I wouldn't mess around with it, asbestos and lead were very common building materials back then.

 

[bradyboy]

not unusual for contractors building a home to bury junk, debris from another site to the new site for fill.
they avoid dumping fees and limitatiions of accepting caustic debris
Illegal but they do it anyway
brady

 

[maverick06]

Thanks for the tips everyone. Who knows. Personally I am guessing its old paint. Not sure. This yard has been interesting, got the detector to clear nails. Well the last roofer left every nail in the universe in the yard (yay), lots of trash from construction. Clearly a few fire pits (melted cans an concentrations of nails and the garage rollers). Found about $3 worth of coins too (woohoo haha). So the pirate treasure is still missing, but getting the trash out of the yard is good for the kids (that was the reason to get the detector), less to step on. However, you swing it around and you are finding nails everywhere. Probably a roofing nail every 3ft^2 near the house... what slobs.... Thanks, who knows, might get something fun.