Strangely, we recovered no artifacts from around this pipe. Fill usually contains some cultural material. We found lighter soil immediately next to the 1720s foundation and knew we'd uncovered the builder's trench. The foundation of the lean-to is composed of thin, unmortared field stones while that of the 1800s section is made up of thick, mortared river rocks and New Jersey brown sandstone. The foundation to the 1800s house extends down almost two meters while the foundation of the lean-to extends only about half a meter.
Students excavate the privy and artifacts emerge.
The soil that appears grainy has a heavy concentration of seeds. Though the seeds need to be analyzed for a positive identification, they look like berry seeds, possibly raspberries. Click here for more photos of the privy and its contents. In the area of the three paths, approximately two meters below surface, we finally found the remains of a privy. What we've got is a wood-lined square box with a sandy bottom.