I enjoy finding bottles and other historical items for my collection in antique stores. I have been known to bid aggressively on eBay for Lewistown bottles. Buying from and trading with friends and fellow collectors is always fun. However, all of these methods combined account for just a small portion of my collections.
My primary (and preferred) method of acquisition is to go out and find historical items that, in the 1800s, were simply unwanted junk. I seek out and excavate old-time dump and privy (outhouse) sites, and recover a diverse selection of artifacts, including:
- Bottles of all kinds, from medicines to liquors, foods to perfumes and everything in between.
- Small household items such as marbles, clay tobacco pipes, bone toothbrush handles, glass bird feeders and much more.
- Beautiful early ceramics including stoneware, spongeware, redware and banded yellowware. These items are usually broken, and the pieces are carefully recovered and sorted for reconstruction. Occasionally, a lucky ceramic item will survive intact, but that is a rare treat!
-Stoneware crocks, some with cobalt blue decorations or potter's marks like J.H. Dipple. Again, these are usually smashed, but due to their heavy construction, they are a bit more durable than redware and yellowware items.
Yes, indeed I did! Sounds nasty, eh? Well, it's not. The outhouse sites that I excavate were filled in many years ago, usually not much later than 1900 or so. The formerly nasty organic waste materials have all been reclaimed by Mother Earth. That's OK- That's not what I want to find, anyway.
In the 1800s, many things about Lewistown were different than they are today. One big difference is how household trash was disposed of. Today, we leave it on the curb, and the trash man throws it on his truck and takes it to the landfill. Of course, that was unheard of in the 1800s.
Most houses in Lewistown did not have a dump nearby. While sinkholes, ravines and creek or river banks were used as dumps, many homes had just one nearby place for their refuse- Down the outhouse hole! Anything that was unwanted was deposited into the pit. Now, over a century later, their "junk" items are historical treasures.
Privy digging is certainly not for everyone. However, if you are cut out for it, it can be very rewarding. It can also be a lot of work for little or nothing. Since you never know what is in the pit until you reach the bottom, patience and persistence are musts.
Anyone who even thinks about digging a privy should first do their homework. If any readers of this site would like to attempt a privy dig, I will offer some simple guidelines and honest thoughts below.
- NEVER try to dig a privy pit by yourself. Although this is not impossible, it will be very hard and could be unsafe. A digging partner is a must-have. You need someone to help you safely remove the fill, and to keep an eye out above while you are down in the pit.
-DO NOT TUNNEL. Tunneling is the lazy and foolhardy method of digging which entails digging a cavernous hole with overhanging dirt, rocks or other fill. It may be tempting to let some fill hang to "save time" instead of removing it from the pit. It may look stable. Guess what- It's not. The rarest, most beautiful bottle or artifact is not worth getting your skull crushed, after which you will not be able to enjoy the item anyway. Safely and properly remove ALL fill, until the pit walls are clean, all the way down to your feet. THEN, dig in and get the goodies!
-NEVER leave an open pit unattended. If you must leave your dig site before the hole is filled in, you must cover it securely with heavy wood or sturdy metal that covers the ENTIRE opening. Cheap paneling or aluminum siding will not suffice. This is just a basic, common-sense safety issue.
-When a dig is finished, the pit must be neatly and fully filled in. Sometimes, additional fill will need to be brought in after a good rain or two to settle the ground. Completed dig sites need to occasionally be checked and maintained for at least a month. Always provide the property owner with your contact information, in case they have any concerns.
-Always thank the property owner and offer to share a few bottles with him or her. The owner could have said "NO", and you would not have anything from their pit.
As a responsible digger and a good steward of history, I cannot help but bring up what can be a sore subject for me. I strongly believe that anyone who would excavate any privy pit with the sole intent of monetary gain has NO business doing so.
Before anyone thinks "So, I sold a few bottles that I dug, and now this guy thinks I'm evil?? Who does he think he is?!?", please allow me to explain further.
It is not immoral or illegal to sell items that you find while digging, nor should it be. I choose to keep many of my finds. Duplicate items of local interest are either donated to my local historical society or traded with fellow collectors. I occasionally will sell duplicate, common and non-local items to make shelf room and help me buy more local items. Some diggers and collectors choose to specialize in certain types of bottles and sell the rest. Others just need the cash and sell out of necessity. Still others just don't have the room or the desire to keep everything.
The bottom line is this- It is not the selling of bottles or other artifacts that I have a problem with. To think that way would be ridiculous. I like to buy bottles, too. What I do have a major problem with is those who have no interest in or appreciation for history, and choose to dig privies STRICTLY for money. These people are nothing more than pillagers who are all about themselves. Everything is for sale as soon as they find it. They fail to keep ANY records, dig journals or other documentation. Historical items that should be saved and reconstructed are unceremoniously discarded, simply because they have no cash value. These creeps will often trespass and leave behind sloppy sites. They will even grossly misrepresent items to unsuspecting novice collectors and unknowing antique dealers, blatantly RIPPING PEOPLE OFF whenever possible. They are all about one thing- Making as much money for themselves as possible, at the expense of diggers, collectors and the historical record. They are a very small minority among diggers, but they should be exposed, discouraged and stopped whenever possible when they are found.
I am not a professional archaeologist, but it does not take too much effort to pursue this great hobby without doing a huge disservice to others and ignoring the historical record. If you want to dig privies, great, but please do it for the right reasons.