privy decompisition Q

[YoungBlood]

Does anyone know a rough guess on how long it is untill a privy is digable? What is the shortist amount of time before you would dig a privy?

 

[bottlehunterofcoscob]

I'm not sure how long it takes, but most privies worth digging in at least my eyes are more than a hundred years old, which seems like plenty long enough.

 

[choppadude]

I have dug several 100+ year old privys and never found any Poo, just some good rich soil and nice old bottles!
Many years ago men would stash their flask out in the rafters of the old outhouse and take a couple sips several times a day. When the bottle was empty guess where he put it, yep, right in the hole! Seen a few nice historical flask come out of some local privy pits.

 

[YoungBlood]

I'm not sure how long it takes, but most privies worth digging in at least my eyes are more than a hundred years old, which seems like plenty long enough.

Well the thing is im not digging this for the stuff in it but for the history. The site is a piece of local history and is going to get destroyed soon. Im trying to do as many emergency excavations as possible.

 

[bottlehunterofcoscob]

How old do you think your privy/area is?

 

[YoungBlood]

How old do you think your privy/area is?

Through other digs ive done id say the property was adbandon in the mid 1940s. I dont know if this privy is older or not i was hoping to find out some dates with this dig.

 

[Coldshuz]

I have tried to locate the article I read about a week ago, but couldn't, in the Daily Mail out of the UK, where they had found a "loo" that was over 700 years old. The archies were so excited because the "poo" was still good and they will run tests on it to determine what the folks ate back then. The difference between the one found and ones you are likely looking at was that at the bottom of their loo, was a big wooden barrel that had previously been used to store pickles and/or fish in it before it became the catch barrel.

OK.. found a related article about it.

700 Year Old Find

 

[Tonto]

I think if the privy hasn't been used since the 40's, the waste has decomposed if the liquid was allowed to be absorbed by the earth. If the hole was lined with concrete, or if a metal vault was built or adapted, such as a 55 gallon drum, then it may still be somewhat viable. If there was no liner in the hole, then the water table would need to be low in order for the earth to absorb the liquids so the solids can dry. Sometimes, people sprinkled lime on the waste to help in decomp, and keep the odor down. If lime was used, then my guess is the waste has turned to top soil.

 

[YoungBlood]

Thanks, i guess theres one good way to find out.