03 Sep unearthed finds from an undisturbed and remarkably preserved 19th century chicago family’s privy vault

photographed in my studio, the following images represent an impressive assemblage of discarded objects once used in the everyday life of a chicago family household spanning from the late 1860’s through the early 1880’s. the privy pit or “vault” was sealed and forgotten when a horse stable was constructed on the site of the privy around 1881-1884.

when the stable was wrecked, a garage with a cement slab was constructed during the 1920’s. the latter likely kept the contents of the privy remarkably intact since the ground above the privy was undisturbed and not exposed to the elements.

the privy was discovered and cleaned out by myself and a member of my salvage team. with the exception of gut-wrenching rotten egg shells, seeds (a byproduct of undigested food found in fecal matter) and the malodorous newspaper were the seeds and shells were found. each and every fragment was removed and documented. after the collection of material was cleaned, i photographed on a sill plate belonging to the house.