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massive 19th century chicago "night scavenger" dumpsite unearthed in west town

according to 19th century chicago public health reports, periodicals (e.g., the sanitarian), and city ordinances, it was rather common for licensed "night scavengers" to dump refuse collected from residential privy pits or "vaults" into vacant lots.

i've discovered several of these dumps over the past 3 years while gathering data for my "unearthing chicago" project. However, i haven't been actively involved in a long time - perhaps i needed a break from the rigor of such endeavors. but then again, maybe there hasn't been an opportunity where i've felt the overpowering urge to rekindle the flame. recently though, my interest was reignited when i was asked to take a look at a rather large dump discovered on the west side of chicago the other day.

when i arrived, i could distinctly recall the 1880's house (without a basement) that once stood there - it was demolished late last year and a subsequent excavation was put off. i spent the afternoon there documenting artifacts as they were pulled from the ground, and the refuse recovered from the bottom-most layer suggests usage of the dump beginning in the mid-1880's.

the images below represent only a fraction taken the other day. when time permits, i will add more, including fragments cleaned and shot in the studio.

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