Hi Scott,

Yes, within the past two years, we excavated a pair of privies in the same
house lot (according to Sanborn maps) dating from 1930-40ish (we haven't
finished identifying all the makers marks on things yet) that were FULL of
a vast range of items, including clothing, jewelry, pocket watches, alarm
clocks, men's adult shoes, furniture bits, toys, two tricycles, stove
parts, perfumes, toiletry items, Christmas lights, picture frames, mattress
springs, pots and pans, utensils, a Willard battery charger, tools, plus
all the "normal" privy stuff. It was like opening a WWII era Sears
Catalogue.

I postulate also that this was one major dump event, due to the house being
suddenly vacated, although why I haven't figured out yet. Could be eviction
or death? A hoarder? I can't imagine someone just voluntarily moving out
and leaving all that stuff behind, especially with the reality of the Great
Depression fresh in their heads. What is a little confusing is all the
men's, women's, and children's things intermingled.

We have earthquakes here, but it doesn't make sense that this was the
cause. We do have another privy on the same block that dates to right
around 1906 (the Great San Francisco Earthquake) that is full of broken
dishes from the same service that are whole when reassembled, so I'm
guessing it's earthquake damage. They're all lumped together in one mass
depositional event.

One of the sources we will be checking are the city directories to look at
the residential history of the parcel to try and see if anyone
"disappeared" from the residence during that general time. Are there city
directories available for your area? The ones for our particular city
typically list the occupants, whether they rent or own, their occupation,
and family members, if any.

Good luck,
Linda


Linda Hylkema
*Cultural Resources Manager, Santa Clara University*
W: *408-554-4513* | C: *408-219-5748* | F: *408-551-1709* | Ricard
Observatory | 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95053



On Tue, Apr 7, 2015 at 9:37 AM, Williams, Scott <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> 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
>
> "Development is not stifled by history, but enriched by it."
>