A paragraph from an article of mine due out in the next issue of the
British journal _Medieval Ceramics_ just to show the phenomenon extends
to other countries and an earlier period than the C19.
 
"Cess-pits have been one of the richest sources of datable finds groups
in early-modern English towns. They were regularly emptied in normal use
and  their final fills often appear to be linked with the demolition or
rebuilding of  the adjacent house.  It is possible that life-cycles of
buildings might tend  to correspond to household life-cycles thus
creating age- and sex-related biases in artefact and dietary evidence.
An example, might be the abandonment or rebuilding of a house upon the
death of a widow, a form of householder commonly recorded in urban
surveys and rentals."
 
Paul Courtney
Leicester, UK