New House Site

[NJKLAGT]

Hey Everyone,

I'm digging at a new house site. There are either 9 or 11 people living there in 1858. There are some old stone cellar foundations, some brick perimeters (more like big depressions with bricks in and around them), and a well. There is glass everywhere, beautiful applied lips, fruit jar bases, etc. I did find a sort of trash pit where I got the long-necked bottle and the amethyst ointment pot. I'll dig there some more.

But I found two deep circular sinking spots, which I thought might be larger privies since there were so many people there at one time. Anyway, I ended up digging about 8 feet down yesterday, and I was still finding ash and poop and some lime, a few animal bones and the occasional glass or china shard, or piece of rusted iron. The English beer and smaller ointment pot were found only a couple feet down, probably got there when the hole was being covered. But yeah I'm totally confused by this. I don't think it was ever dipped or dug, because the stratification of the different substances looks totally natural. Is this a pit that was designated for compost? Ash, chamber pot poop and food waste could make good compost, and maybe Mom said, 'don't throw glass in there because I need it for the garden'? But yeah, it's east of the house. I'm confused. *Is it possible that it was very wet inside the privy and that all the bottles sunk to the bottom?* I was starting to hit some water yesterday. I don't know whether to feel optimistic or not, but I don't think I've reached the bottom, so there's still a chance maybe?

The other sinking spot is north of the house, I'll probably try it eventually because I'll kick myself if I don't. I'll have to bring the probe out today. I'm gonna get the first hole a little deeper. I have a ladder and I'll be safe about everything. Let me know what your theories are about this! Thanks.

 

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[cje]

You're on the right trail! Tough digging an outhouse by yourself. Are you using a tripod to lift the bucket out of the hole?

 

[Bass]

I ran into the same problem with the last 2 pits I was digging in. Matter of fact, I quit digging because that's how I got my hernia. My 2 pits are within 6 ft of each other. Put # 1 had broken glass and animal bone in the 1st 5-6 feet, with 1 whole snuff bottle and 1 broken umbrella ink. At 12 ft I dug a 2-3 ft test hole in the center and sank my probe to the handle while probing in all directions. Didn't hit anything. Moved to the second hole and found layers of ash through it to about 10 ft. Dug a 2-3 test hole in the center and again sank my 5 ft probe to the handle, not hitting bottom and not hitting any debris. Going to take a couple more people with me next spring to dig these 2 pits. I can't sleep at night thinking about them. An old timer said to walk away because they're getting too dangerous at that depth( we have soft soil here) another old timer said they may have been wet privies and all the glass is in the bottom stacked up.
My suggestion is to get some help and maybe set up a tripod to pull the buckets up.

 

[NJKLAGT]

Bass, were the privies that you were digging on a house site or public? I went there again today, I'm probably about 9 feet down and I still found a few bones and some chunks of brick, pottery, and iron. It can't be that something like that found it's way 9 feet down unless it was a pit or privy. I just can't believe that. It's totally a man-made hole. For what? I have no idea at this point.

All of the glass being stacked up on the bottom sounds like such a pot of gold, drives me nuts. I might get a friend to help me haul, first wait a couple weeks for any water to soak down a bit. It is still spring after all. It should dry up a bit. At that depth you're bound to get water.

I mean, with that many people living there this thing could be loaded! I have to go until I stop seeing bones and ash and brick and stuff, or I'll regret it forever.

 

[Bass]

Yes, you will regret it if you don't finish it. The place I'm talking about was a doctor's home in a small village in a rural area. From what I understand, it dates back to the civil war. It later became a boarding house until the 1920's.
You should dig a test hole in the center of it and sink your probe as far as you can and see if you can feel anything
All we can do is dig them up. We have no control over what's in them. I don't want you to do anything that puts you in a dangerous situation but I would at least try to get to the bottom if that's possible

 

[scruggs]

Good luck with your dig!!

 

[NJKLAGT]

Sorry cje I meant to reply, I'm not using a tripod rig, although I'd really like to build one. I've only dug one privy before and it was only 6 feet deep so it was never really necessary. Right now it sounds appealing though. So far for this hole I just have the ladder. Carrying the buckets up gets tiring, but I guess I'm still relatively young.

 

[Bigbender]

I really like color of purple on the right, would look so nice with the sunlight shining on it.

 

[RelicDude]

Awesome I'd say you have a good spot there. Unfortunately I don't know much about digging privy s I have never had much luck in them.

 

[jgas]

Hey NJ, sounds like you have a couple of nice possibilities there. Yes the heavier glass will sink all the way to the bottom. The most recent stuff may be hanging in the ash and sand layers. Just remember though that if you don't hit anything with the probe it does not mean its empty. In fact I find a lot of times it means whole bottles. If they are broken into small pieces then you will hit those with the probe. With that said though, if its a nice privy with any kind of Use Layer the bottom usually will be one nice layer of the glass and debris. I love it when we find a privy and probe it numerous times and hit the layer throughout the 4 x 4 square. Cha Ching a nice use layer. Gotta be careful though digging the deep ones. Cave ins are not fun. Good luck and let us know what ya come up with. jgas

 

[NJKLAGT]

Thanks for the encouragement guys! It gets pretty discouraging when you're 8+ feet down and nothing's happening, but I'm just hoping that it was a wet privy when it was in use and that most of the stuff sunk to the bottom.

My big brother is coming down in a couple weeks to help me out, gonna try to make some sort of bucket rig and just go for it, right to the bottom. I'll keep you all posted.

 

[sunrunner]

I know about digging in N . J . I dug with a friend in Camden , some of the privy's went 8. ft. but we came up this stuff, so it was worth it. some of the trash pits were sort of shallow at 4 and 5 feet.

 

[bottlehunterofcoscob]

I know about digging in N . J . I dug with a friend in Camden , some of the privy's went 8. ft. but we came up this stuff, so it was worth it. some of the trash pits were sort of shallow at 4 and 5 feet.

Went to Camden not too long ago and it's a rough place, but all I could think about was all the digging opportunity that must be there!

 

[NJKLAGT]

Just thought I'd update. At 10 feet down today I found a horseshoe, the top of a bottle, a few china shards, and some rotting wood planks. I'm wondering if the rotting wood was the outhouse itself broken down and thrown down the hole. There were also a couple bricks and a good sized rock.

I also started on the second potential privy, and it definitely is a privy. I found a cylindrical pontiled base, a few shards of glass and china, and some bones, but this one too seemed really empty. There was definitely seedy human waste in there and it looks like it hasn't been disturbed. I hit clay only 4 or 5 feet down, and tomorrow I'm going to try and find out if it's a cap. But anyway, I am absolutely perplexed over the lack of anything in these holes considering there were so many people living there.

I still like the pot of gold theory, gonna go until it's done.

 

[NJKLAGT]

DEFEAT!

Well everyone, I've filled 'er in. Less than a week ago I had set out to dig my second privy, and I did exactly that, I dug my second and third privies. 'Thing is, they had already been dug. Although this has been kind of frustrating and I feel totally jealous of whoever got to dig this goldmine, it has been such an invaluable learning experience, and I can now have some sort of closure. Even though these are the findings of an amateur I'd like to share what I've learned with you. This is just one dig and not the case with every privy everywhere!

First we'll talk about what they look like on the outside. In image 1 we see a privy that hasn't been dug. The surface soil looks consistent inside and outside the shallow depression. In image 2, we can see a subtle hump around the edge of the depression, and it is different in composition from the surrounding soil (I was wrong, the slight hump was not excess from being filled by the original users). The hump is different in coarseness and colour because it contains ash and and other things from inside the privy, piled around the edge of the hole while it was being dug. There will be bits of glass, china, pottery, etc. inside the hump. Of course there may be glass and debris all over the property but this hump will likely contain more anomalies than the immediately surrounding soil. The hole itself may appear dramatically deeper than an undisturbed one. This is because what is contained within the hump did not make it back into the hole and also because the contents of the privy have had a good sifting with all the digging and so it will all sit lower over time.

Next let's talk about what they look like on the inside. In image 3 we see an undug privy. We see distinct layers of ash and seedy waste that bridge the entire width of the vault. We see broken bottles and whole bottles, and other things broken or intact. When something is broken, all the pieces are kind of in one place, having been thrown in all at once. The heavy things/older things sink to the bottom while the privy is still wet. In image 4 we see what I encountered, what I will call 'marbling'. It appears that there are distinct layers, but in reality you are encountering chunks of stuff that happened to fall somewhat back into place when the hole was being filled after it was dug. You will encounter human waste or ash but it will change within a shovelful or two. You will find bricks or rocks not at the bottom but suspended just about anywhere, because they were thrown in with a dry mess of stuff and so they don't sink. You will find a single piece of broken glass or china or pottery, and the rest will be nowhere to be found, because it has been removed from its original resting place. Or, you will find another piece of it way further down - when the contents of the privy were removed, so was the context, and the chance of everything going back in the way it came out is zero! I was finding older things on top and newer things toward the bottom, and it took me way longer than it should have to determine that it had all been stirred up before.

One thing I forgot to illustrate was the privy walls. Undug wood-lined privies will have obvious rotting wooden walls, and the dug privies usually have these destroyed or stripped away and those bits of wood are found throughout the vault.

So anyway, I held onto hope for a lot longer than I probably should have. There were a lot of warning signs I kind of chose to ignore because I was so excited to be digging a privy again. I thought that finding the English beer and aqua ointment pot was a good sign at first, but in retrospect the English beer might not be desirable to experienced diggers and the ointment pot is so tiny and insignificant that it could have been overlooked.

Thanks for tuning in anyway, and I hope my observations from this dig will come in handy to others, pros and amateurs alike.

View attachment privy.bmp

 

[Bass]

I wouldn't call it defeat. Just a learning process. Some pits dug 30-40 years ago don't show signs of being dug. I leave something new about 3 ft down when I fill one in

 

[NJKLAGT]

Right Bass, it's not a total defeat! I have learned a lot on this dig. My first privy was a big success and so I had this inherent kind of expectation that the next one would rock my world as well. I don't feel completely defeated, just a bit deflated is all.

I dug a hole 10 feet deep into the earth and that alone was so darn fun! I love how cool and quiet it is down in the hole, it's an entirely different world, and you inevitably emerge with a new knowledge and perspective and appreciation for the hobby.

I still got two beautiful bottles out of that hole, and I like to think that the other guy left them there for me, like a wink and a nod and a "better luck next time, kid".

 

[sunrunner]

the same thing appears in dumps that have been dug.

 

[NJKLAGT]

I've been very fortunate to have never dug a dump that was already dug!