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
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