Scott,

Was the nearby house updated with indoor plumbing (and a toilet for that
matter) sometime prior to its abandonment? I've run across a number of
domestic sites (both rural and urban) where the date ranges of the recovered
artifacts suggested that occupants filled in privies, cisterns, and the like
around a house or building not long after indoor plumbing was installed.
Probably a popular use for out-of-use privies, especially in any localities
that lacked regular or affordable refuse pick-up. Vol 34, No 1 of Historical
Archaeology that Lara suggested probably touches on this behavior.

Best,

-Arron Kotlensky


T. Arron Kotlensky, RPA | Sr. Project Archaeologist
HRA Gray & Pape, LLC
110 Avondale Street | Houston, Texas 77006
voice: 713-541-0473 ext. 27 | cell: 412-334-2128 | fax: 713-541-0479



-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Williams, Scott
Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2015 10:37 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Privies and house abandonment/cleanout

We recently excavated a late 19th century privy that was
packed-literally-with artifacts. What is curious to me is the range of the
artifact types: besides the usual medicine bottles and broken bits of
pottery were whole liquor bottles (some half full), twelve shoes of
different sizes, at least one book, a metal pan, lots of metal cans, other
household goods such as condiment and perfume containers, and mattress
springs.  We're thinking the privy was filled after the house was vacated,
either due to the death of the resident or their eviction.  The material
doesn't look like it was deposited in the privy over a long period, as if
the privy was abandoned and then the hole was used for trash disposal over
time.

The privy is located in an area of packed glacial till, meaning that
excavating the privy shaft would have taken some effort and filling it with
trash while it was still in use seems counterintuitive (and assuming no one
stuffs a mattress into a privy they are still using).  A nearby privy of the
same age was more "typical", in that it was not packed full of artifacts and
had a much more limited range of materials in it.

Has anyone seen examples of privies that appear to have been purposefully
used for one large disposal event, such as clearing out a house that became
suddenly vacant? My experience excavating privies is limited.

Thanks,

Scott S. Williams
Cultural Resources Program Manager, WSDOT
Ph: 360.570.6651
[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
WSDOT Cultural Resources
Program<http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Environment/CulRes/default.htm> on the Web

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