privy vault with scattered remnants unearthed behind a pre-fire chicago residence on erie street

a largely intact circular pine wood privy pit or "vault" floor was discovered during excavation of a site where a pre-fire chicago residence succumbed to the wrecking ball. i was busy documenting the sill plate configuration of a nearby wood frame house when i got wind that this (see below) brick cottage had been reduced to rubble.

the floor was comprised of yellow pine wood with no tongue and groove edges evident. the boards were amazingly intact and heavily saturated with human waste, leaving behind the familiar stench and tar-like black sludge in and around the ground and wood.

unfortunately, the pit or vault had been dipped before being filled in, so only a few remnants were found while extracting the floor from its resting place, approximately five feet below grade. towards the back of the lot, however, i discovered a remarkably intact dark amber glass john a. lomax quart dating to the 1860's. the long neck and ring top are two morphological characteristics that really stand out with this type of bottle.

a few other bottles where found nearby, including a three-piece mold "black glass" m. keeley ale bottle, but nearly all had damage to one degree or another (with the exception of the h.f. & company aqua soda bottle fabricated by william mccully & company, pittsburgh, pa).

after discovering the lomax quart, i was convinced we were going to dig up either a second, earlier privy floor, or more intact bottles. after a more thorough dig the day after the excavation, nothing else worthy of mention was discovered. at the very least, a privy floor and a complete ring top lomax ale were found and documented.

additional images of the privy floor with scattered remnants and a lightly cleaned and sanded section of one of the boards taken from the privy floor.