Dear Lynda,



We excavated a madhouse of the 17th-120th c in the centre of Deventer in the
east of The Netherlands. The madhouse (Saint Elizabeth House) had all kinds
of ill people inside, the mad, schizophrenic, addicts, and combinations of
that. From the historical sources comes a lot of information. The two
cesspits we excavated contained loads of material. Mainly the absence of
glass objects indicates that this is something extraordinary. Usually in
19th-20 c pits we find glass in large amounts.



Also items of the work-institution that is was, to keep the patients busy we
found. Lost of buttons, buckles and other cloth related items suggest that
they made from cloth cotton waste. The same goes for cokes, the selecting of
various sizes of coals etc.

A nice difference can be seen from the waste from the staff and the
patients.

A difference with the material culture of hospitals from the same date is
that this pattern lacks the uniformity that is found in general hospitals
(pisspot, jug, bowl).

We round of the report now and a book will be published in September this
year. Unfortunately for you it is in Dutch, but with an summary in English.



Your madhouse sound extremely big, I do not have a clue for that. Maybe you
can magnify the data form smaller institutions.



Good luck,



Michiel Bartels

Deventer County Archaeologist

NL

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-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----

Van: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Namens Lynda Carroll

Verzonden: woensdag 9 maart 2005 13:56

Aan: [log in to unmask]

Onderwerp: Archaeology of the schizophrenic



   While we are on the topic of the archaeology of insanity, I thought I
would ask another question...

   I am finishing a phase two context study of a 20th century site
associated with a State Hospital outside of NYC. During the 1950s, it was
the largest psychiatric hospital in the world (almost 15,000 patients), and
is still in operation. The center itself is National Register eligible.

   Although I am aware of the literature on asylums, poorhouses/workhouses,
etc. of the 19th century, does anyone know of any studies of State
Institutions of the scale I am dealing with? I am

specifically looking for   recent (20th century) examples.



Lynda Carroll

Project Director, Public Archaeology Facility Department of Anthropology
Binghamton University, SUNY Binghamton, NY 13902-6000

(607)-777-6319

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