You never know when some obscure publication is going to pay off. Ronald S.
Barlow, 1989, The Vanishing American Outhouse: A History of Country Plumbing,
Windmill Publishing Company, El Cajon, California. Barlow reviewed the terms
thunder mug, slop jar, Peggy, Badger and jug for portable commodes beginning in
the 17th century, but noted Roman toilets date back to 140 A.D. in the Emporer
Antonius Pius' palace. Similar furnishings dating back to 4,500 B.C. at the
palace of Sargon the Great might also have served as toilets. English castles
in the Middle Ages had small room projections over the moats with gravity
toilets, but assassination of a queen by arrow triggered invention of the gooseneck
pipe. Spain began installing backyard privies in the mid 18th century with
sewage plumbing developed by the time of colonization of California in the 1770s
(but apparently not installed in California). This book includes drawings and
photographs, including one with a rectangular wooden box for a 2-holer.
Barlow claimed the big boom in outhouses occurred from 1933-1945 and 2,309,239
federally funded privies were built across America under the NRA, WPA, and TVA. I
dont have all the time to go into the details, but I highly recommend this
book as a reference for the archaeology of privies.

Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.