Modified Privies
As the ordinances concerning privies changed from one construction type to another, residents and home owners tinkered with their backyards to comply (or appear to comply) with the new regulations. Or, one household would move out of a property and then instead of cleaning up after the former tenants, would build next to or over the previously used privy shaft. Quite often, archaeologists find multiple iterations of privies directly next to or on top of each other.
Brick- and wood-lined privy shaft. Courtesy of GNO ARC.
Hover over the image to see how archaeologists interpreted each part
This privy sink, above, for example, was originally lined with wood and had a wooden floor. At some time, someone who lived on the property cut the top off of the wooden planks that made the wooden privy sink, and covered the filthy contents of it with clay, and then built a completely new and clean brick-lined privy on top. Archaeologists removed the brick-floor of the privy in order to explore the wood-lined privy below.
This privy has two separate modifications - two separate pipes have interrupted the brick-lined privy shaft. The privy shaft is pictured here, but bisected (the other half has not been uncovered). In this excavation, archaeologists realized that the smaller of the two ceramic pipes intrudes on the brick-lined privy sink. Meanwhile, the larger of the two ceramic pipes intersects with the privy shaft. Archaeological profiles show that these two separate modifications occurred at different times.
Privy and intersecting ceramic pipes. Courtesy of GNO ARC.
Hover over the image to see how archaeologists interpreted each part
The midden layer above the larger pipe was intact, which means that it accumulated after the time that the larger ceramic pipe was installed. This same midden layer was broken to install the smaller ceramic pipe, meaning that it occurred after the larger ceramic pipe was installed. The larger ceramic pipe that intersects with the brick-lined privy shaft runs in the direction of the house, and likely served as a "cess-pit" to hold the contents of the waste routed from a flushing toilet inside the house. The smaller ceramic pipe that interrupts the brick-lined privy shaft is linked to when the block was connected to water and sewerage.
Excavation of a complex set of privies, Courtesy of GNOARC.
Hover over the image to see how archaeologists interpreted each part
There are three intersecting excavations in this photograph, all rectangular. Two of the squares are privy shafts, and the third square is an excavation unit. Archaeologists excaated each privy shaft first, and determined that they had been modified, but how and why exactly seemed unclear. Archaeologists can figure out how and why these two features were mixed together by excavating each part separately and in distinctive layers. They also excavated an area on the outside of the privy shafts in a square meter to better understand the timing and the placement of each structure.
Slide the cursor from left to right, and please note that the different angles from the plan view and the image slightly skew the juxtaposition.
This is a field sketch that an archaeologist made of the modified privy. Field sketches like these serve to illustrate complicated features. They are one component of documentation that is critical to the archaeological process. They are also a crucial link to understand the distribution of artifacts that came out of the privy. In this case, the components of the wood-lined and the brick-lined privy sinks were distinctive.