The word garbology is a blend of the noun garbage, (originating from a 15th century Anglo-Norman French word denoting ‘the entrails or ‘waste’ parts of an animal’), and the suffix -ology, used to describe a subject of study or a branch of knowledge. First use of the term dates back to the 1970s, and is mainly attributed to William Rathje, an archaeologist and former professor at the University of Arizona. Rathje directed the Garbage Project, a long-term study dedicated to field research in trash dumps, and he co-authored Rubbish! The Archaeology of Garbage.