Posted on 09/26/2017 2:11:27 PM PDT by Red Badger
BOSTON (CBS) — Workers digging at the Paul Revere house in the city’s North End believe they may have found an archaeological jackpot that could give them a unique window into history–the Revere family outhouse.
The possible privy site was discovered Monday, and diggers were attempting to open it up Tuesday to investigate.
Archeological dig going on outside Paul Revere's House in the North End. What will they find? pic.twitter.com/1rBgv7hAL5
— Doug Cope (@dcopewbz) September 26, 2017
City Archaeologist Joe Bagley told WBZ NewsRadio 1030’s Doug Cope that a find like this is important because people back in the Colonial Era threw a lot of stuff in their privies–stuff that could give insight into their lives.
“You’d fill it up with you-know-what, and then also your household waste, because everyone threw their trash out into that,” Bagley said. “We’re hoping to find the individuals’ waste themselves, which, we can get seeds from what they were eating, we can find parasites, find out what their health was, but then everything else that they threw out from their house.”
He said the team found a four-by-six-foot brick rectangle–too small to be the foundation for a house or a shed.
Pouring over potential artifacts from 1700's at archeological dig on Revere family property in the North End. pic.twitter.com/ng2lehT79T
— Doug Cope (@dcopewbz) September 26, 2017
“Typically what you would do is you would dig a big pit, you’d line it with bricks,” Bagley said. “You typically would also line it with clay, because you didn’t want the contents to leach into your well.”
But the only way to confirm the true nature of the find was to dig into the potentially gross contents.
“We love finding privies,” said Bagley. “We think we have one. The only way to find out is to dig down into it and see if it has that nightsoil–that kind of smelly, dark soils which are now composted and not that bad, but they might have a stench still, a little bit.”
Digging in what might have been Revere family privy outside Paul Revere house in the North End. Pieces of coal found pic.twitter.com/DnP9IYvBk5
— Doug Cope (@dcopewbz) September 26, 2017
The archaeological team has already found the handle to a German-made beer stein from the 1700s, as well as pieces of coal.
“If we start finding thousands of artifacts, then we really know we’re in a really important feature,” Bagley said.
Piece of beer stein from the 1700's found at archeological dig outside Revere family property in the North End. pic.twitter.com/JN1tOhnvDB
— Doug Cope (@dcopewbz) September 26, 2017
Bagley said that there was a law in place in Boston starting in 1650 mandating that every household dig their privy at least six feet deep–but that doesn’t mean everyone followed the law.
“I expect that, at most, we’ll have to go down that full six feet,” Bagley said. “I hope it’s six feet deep, because that gives us the best opportunity to find a lot of things from multiple families.”
The home has been a fixture in the North End since around 1711.
One if..... Two if......
I just don’t get the excitement over mundane archeological digs. However, if it was me getting paid to scour through the dirt and detritus maybe I’d be for it. ;)
I can’t help but think money for this “project” could have been better spent elsewhere.
The Archaeologist on site is a City employee, and probably works on all sites owned by the City that are deemed historical. They are usually called in if bones are discovered, or before any construction can take place in a known historical site. Then again, they may just be digging for history, which in my opinion isn’t ridiculous. He may be working hand in hand with a college, or colleges. Archaeological digs can redefine assumed notions about various aspects of our past.
So maybe those guys they keep catching down in the bottom of national park outhouses are just amateur archaeologists?
Archaeologists love this stuff.
*************
If they love it so much, they should pay to do it. It sounds like archaeological welfare to me.
If coal was found, there should have been evidence of burning in the layer of dirt it was found. The owners may have just thrown the ashes of their fireplaces/cast iron stoves out in the privy.
Yeah, night basketball programs are far more important than history.
Archaeologists do not make a lot of money, but they love what they do.
Don't forget, dung is a fuel.
I know people who do this for fun and profit. Some early bottles are worth thousands, if intact.
Wasn’t the “Big Dig” a $15 Billion OVERRUN of Kennedy and Kerry? That in itself was a lot of crap, no outhouse needed.
Bring in a corprologist or a scatology expert and perform diagnostic sampling.
Detection of parasitics, heavy metals, diet, and other findings might provide insight worth historical interest.
Norse digs in England, especially digs performed at human waste sights have shown that the Norse were rife with parasites.
Absolutely. Privies and old wells, too. When they discoverd the original well at Jamestowne, it was filled with armor, helmets, old shoes and even a broken sword that had been dumped in there when the colonists were about to vacate the fort. It was a goldmine of artifacts. Also coins..because you know what happens to the change in your pocket when you drop your drawers....
Well he was a silversmith. Never know.
Appreciate the thoughtful reply. I understand that digs can contribute to our knowledge of the past. I get that.
But there’s no end to the stuff governments can dream up to do. They are going to spend taxpayer money like water on anything and everything they can. Trust me, I’ve seen it for many years in many forms.
Government employees are very creative in finding, and rationalizing, new ways to spend money. Every project is deemed a worthy “investment”, and there’s no end to them.
So I guess I’m expecting to see some kind of really significant payoff/benefit to accrue from government sponsored activity. Not every government “bright idea” or archaeological dig is necessarily justifiable in terms of its cost. Just my humble opinion.
Thanks again for the reply. Regards.
I always enjoy a story about coprolite studies right before dinner. :D
You can learn a lot more about people in those days from their privies and trash pits than from excavating other household areas. Since they were more or less restricted to the use of just one family a privy will give an excellent chronological accounting of the family’s good times verses hard times. [*snicker*] No, seriously.
Privies often contain broken china, jewelry, buttons, coins, bottles, bones from meals, household sweepings, etc.
Broken ceramics offer a great way to date layers excavated, and its qualities along with other items found, such as bones from specific cuts of beef or pork or poultry will show whether a family was pretentious and wealthy or frugal or even very poor.
Medicine bottles tossed in will tell you what illnesses they may have suffered.
Most of these clues would have been swept up and cleaned from other locations but a privy tells all.
Some archaeologist is going to be very busy excavating modern America mega-landfills to find out how we lived. I don’t think it will reflect as well on us as what would be found in Revere’s.
That’s not exactly where the SHTF, but close, very close.
Nature Calls : The History and Charm of Outhouses
https://www.amazon.com/Nature-Calls-History-Charm-Outhouses/dp/0898159903/ref=pd_sim_14_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=EVRYSMW64SAKZPTAD7R6
There are even double-decker versions...
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