I wouldn't be too hasty about the ability of dogs to get rid of human waste. 
I have lived within fifteen feet of the boundary of an Indian reservation 
for 56 years, and believe me, anything that's edible quickly disappears due 
in no small part to the hunger of free-roaming dogs.
    When I lived in Alaska anthropologist Margaret Lantis told me she had 
been sent on assignment by the Alaska Native Service to Nunivak Island to 
she if she could find out why there had been a spike in illnesses among the 
native population.  What she discovered was that in former times, Nunivak's 
inhabitants used sinews to fashioned leashes with which to tie their dogs 
up.  Inevitably, the dogs chewed through the leather and ran free for short 
periods of time -- cleaning up the community while they were at it.  It was 
only after chain leashes were introduced and the dogs were unable to go on 
offal patrol, human waste included, that the resulting unsanitary 
surroundings caused a jump in illnesses among the human population.
    Bunny Fontana



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John M. Foster, RPA" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2012 10:04 AM
Subject: Re: Spanish Colonial wells/privies


I'm with Bob on this. I've worked on bits and pieces of seven California 
Missions and never found a privy, well, or any other similar facility that 
could be dated to the mission period. We just finished work at Missions 
Soledad and Ventura, and did not find evidence of either. We also used GPR 
at both. This lack of evidence could be a function of sampling as well but I 
doubt it. There had to be (check your assumptions) some type of 
institutional method of waste management. There is tangential evidence in 
Laird, Carobeth. 1975, Encounter with an Angry God: Recollections of My Life 
with John Peabody Harrington ( Malki Museum Press, Banning, California) in 
which she references dogs providing such services on a reservation. I find 
it difficult to believe that dogs were the primary or even secondary means 
of waste disposal in a mission setting.

In terms of wells, there is a photograph at Ventura that shows shafdufs 
behind the mission but none has been found to my knowledge nor have the ones 
in the photograph been excavated or reliably dated to the mission period. I 
think this needs more discussion.

John M. Foster, RPA
Greenwood-Associates.com
310.454.3091 tel/fax
310.717.5048 cell


________________________________
 From: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 5:41 PM
Subject: Re: Spanish Colonial wells/privies

I have not yet encountered any definite Spanish privies in my work in
Hispanic California, though there are plenty from Anglo and Asian-American 
ones
in later phases of occupation at the Presidio of Santa Barbara. We did find 
a
well of still yet undetermined date at the same site.   I suspect that the
privies are more likely in military sites which are early and in the
Southeast, at a point less remote from the center of civilization, such as 
St.
Augustine or other sites in Florida.

The major question for me is what did the Spanish do about waste disposal
at mission sites such as San Antonio de Padua where there were up to 1300
Indians.   Chamber pots worked well for the 2 padres, five soldiers, and
possible one or two others of European or mestizo origins, but were 
impractical
for the large numbers of neophytes.   With the health ramifications of this
issue, I cannot believe that this was just left to informal chance.   In the
1790s, the Spanish were learning much more about the nature of disease and
the role of public health.   However, so far we have found no traces of 
trench
latrines anywhere.   I believe chemical analysis of the soil is the best
bet for revealing this, as it leaves little visible trace behind.

Bob Hoover