Subject: | |
From: | |
Reply To: | |
Date: | Thu, 13 Nov 1997 20:11:51 +1100 |
Content-Type: | text/plain |
Parts/Attachments: |
|
|
Some observations on the thread, rather than a direct reply to Mary Ellin's
question about seventeenth and eighteenth century material (which is rather
scarce in Oz).
The privy we excavated at Regentville, a high status rural colonial mansion
occupied 1825-1869, contained about 30 chamber pots. Most were broken but
largely restorable. We took this to indicate that they were used by the family
within the house and emptied, by the servants, into the privy; with breakages
and losses resulting from the emptying and cleaning process. Our scatological
imaginations had no difficulty with the idea of the servants tapping the chamber
pot on the privy seat to free the contents! Many of the chamber pots were parts
of sets, and covered the whole occupation period with decoration ranging from
expensive red, brown or green transfer printed earthenwares from the 1820s to
gilded white vitreous stonewares from the 1860s.
The privy was not mentioned in any of the historical documentation (no surprise
here - the most detailed was written by an estate agent!) The stratigraphy made
it clear that it had been emptied periodically, including a major clearance
event which probably related to a blockage. The privy was located off the 'area'
or domestic courtyard and carefully screened from view. It had a bench seat with
at least four holes.
A plan and other details are available at:
http://www.archaeology.usyd.edu.au/research/regentville/
in our rather messed up web site, no images of the artefacts - but watch this
space!
As for privies on rural and remote sites, I have found pit toilets to be one of
the most predictable characteristics of the European sites we have surveyed for
the CAAP, even in the the most remote and tenuous occupations in Central
Australia. We have looked at about 100 sites, with dates from the 1850s to the
1950s, they all have pit toilets.
Andrew
===============================================================
Andrew Wilson
Archaeology A14
University of Sydney 2006
Australia
[log in to unmask]
http://www.archaeology.usyd.edu.au/
tel +61 2 9351 3142
fax +61 2 9351 6392
|
|
|