Jay and Beth Stottman wrote:

> Also, I have a question about rural privies.  Several of you have already
> given some good information on them.  I usually deal with urban privies and
> I am a bit hesitant about working on rural ones, particularly since I don't
> know when they were last used, which can be pretty recent.  Anyway, the
> question is  would rural privies accumulate many artifacts during use?  Many
> urban privies are full of stuff because people in urban areas generally had
> a tough time finding a place to get rid of their trash.  With plenty of
> space to dispose of trash in the rural areas, would a privy serve a similar
> function.  At least in Kentucky, the prevailing theory of rural trash
> disposal is in the nearest sinkhole, except for some major appliances and
> cars which end-up in the front yard.
>

I don't know that the most recent use, apart from the very obvious, is a real
factor in the survival of disease organisms. Anthrax, for example, can survive
quite nicely for several hundred years. Best to have all your shots up to date
and to learn to dig in thick gloves. I saw a privy  pit from a rural house
which burned in 1911 still capable of turning grass in and immediately around
it a sort of ghastly gray color.

Artifact deposition is a matter of personal preference, from my experience.
What really accumulates artifacts is the icehouse pit, if there was one, but as
Jay says, sinkholes in the right kind of terrain also are very much used. It's
not limited to sinkholes, but anything seems to fill the bill, so long as it's
available. 1/2 mile from my home are the oldest commercially used coal mines in
the US. Some of these, including the later biggies, have all kinds of trash up
to and including major appliances in them. Unfortunately, stereotypes are based
on some form of reality and unfortunately for the water supply in karst areas,
a lot of contaminants are intentionally dumped by the current and past
inhabitants because "we've always done it that way".  Use is limited only by
imagination anyway. I've seen a sinkhole several hundred feet across packed
with clunker 40's & 50's cars to be either sold for restoration or scavenged,
all sitting in rows and columns and entirely out of sight until one is on the
lip. The cattle keep the grass mowed and it's all rather tidy in sort of
strange way.

Lyle