Sounds like a house cleaning episode, which I find nearly always corresponds to a documented change in occupation, architectural changes to buildings on the property, or changes to ordinances or laws governing privy construction, which might cause a privy to be abandoned for its primary function before it is full. You will see the contents of a house sets of old dishes, furniture parts, shoes, architectural debris (bricks and window glass), personal items, etc. in addition to the usual privy stuff bottles and animal bone. Especially in instances of change in occupation, I often see the disposal of old ceramics, where there is quite a disparity between mean dates and T.P.Q.s. When a privy is abandoned before it is full it is a good place to dump items people don't want to take with them when they move. I discuss some of this in my masters thesis. I will be glad to send a pdf if you send an email to me off list.
Jay
M. Jay Stottman
Staff Archaeologist
Kentucky Archaeological Survey
________________________________________
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Bob Skiles [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2015 2:00 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Privies and house abandonment/cleanout
Scott,
Just think about what kind of MOTIVATION would have induced a
late-19th-century person to throw-away several partially full bottles of
liqour??? Perhaps a person who had undergone a
religious/temperance/alcoholic conversion, and was
"casting-out-the-demon rum?" Perhaps a thoroughly disgusted
family-member/landlord/pastor. Perhaps a survivor fearing death from
contagion of drinking from those bottles? In any case, intriguing
questions for further research.
Bob Skiles
On 4/7/2015 12:39 PM, Bob Skiles wrote:
> Scott,
>
> I think Bill certainly points-out an excellent possibility to explain
> the presence of the mattress ... disposition of everything that had
> come in contact with someone who had died by a contagious disease I
> would think should be an avenue for further archival/historical research.
>
> Bob Skiles
>
> On 4/7/2015 12:31 PM, Bill Liebeknecht wrote:
>> Scott,
>>
>> In 1999 Hunter Research, Inc. excavated a couple of late 19th century
>> privies in Newark, New Jersey. In one example there were many complete
>> items (such as bottles, drinking vessels and ceramics) including some
>> catholic religious items such as rosary beads, a complete glass cruet
>> and a
>> glass crucifix candle holder (in an Irish neighborhood) suggesting
>> someone
>> had died and in order to prevent the spread of a contagious disease, the
>> contents of the room, where the person passed away were disposed of
>> in the
>> privy. The privy was no longer needed as city water and sewer had
>> recently
>> been connected.
>>
>> Bill Liebeknecht, M.A., RPA
>> Principal Investigator
>> Hunter Research, Inc.
>> Trenton, New Jersey
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
>> Williams, Scott
>> Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2015 12:37 PM
>> 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
>>
>> "Development is not stifled by history, but enriched by it."
>>
>
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