Although I am a prehistorian and not an historical archaeologist and
don't have the sources at the tips of my fingers--in Boston by the late
1600s there were pit privies in use AND quite a lot of legislation
governing their construction and location--everything from privy placement
to privy linings to the construction of the structures over them. The Big
Dig here has uncovered one privy dating to the last quarter of the 17th
century and I remember reading quite a lot about the various sanitation
laws governing them in the CRM reports.

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Margo Muhl Davis
PhD candidate
Department of Archaeology
Boston University