Antique-Bottles.Net logo
If you are just visiting and found the information you were looking for please contribute to the running costs by making a donation.
Forums : : Register : : Log In : : Log Out : : Help : : Calendar : : Search


Alan's Pre Christmas Dig Party

 
View related threads: (in this forum | in all forums)

Logged in as: Guest
Users viewing this topic: none
 
All Forums >> [Bottle Forums] >> Digging and Finding >> Alan's Pre Christmas Dig Party Page: [1] 2 3 4   next >   >>
Login
Message << Older Topic   Newer Topic >>
Alan's Pre Christmas Dig Party - 12/23/2011 3:29:47 PM   
baltbottles

 

Posts: 2300
Joined: 11/25/2002
From: Baltimore Maryland
Status: offline 		Yesterday was an interesting dig to say the least after getting quite a few permissions Alan wanted to get everyone we know together for a group privy dig and try to dig a bunch of pits in one day. We ended up with 9 diggers from 6 different states. It was a very fun day of digging. We dug four pits, 2 brick liners and two barrel lined pits. I was running about an hour late as were several other diggers. I found those that had arrived on time were probing and test holing in a yard that I had not been able to locate any privies in a few years before. After they gave up trying in that yard we split up into two teams and started two different brick liners a few blocks apart. One was going to be a 22 footer as it was identical to the one we dug in the yard next door a few years before but this one had a tree stump on top of the pit we had to deal with. Once we got the stump out of the way we found an old cast iron sewer pipe running into the pit so we removed that then started digging the fill was heavy clay with bricks and rocks it was slow going. we dug this pit down about 14 feet and probed it with the 9 foot probe and found that it had been cleaned to the bottom and had no trash layer so we filled it in.

The second pit I believe was about 12 feet deep and very wet. But loaded with circa 1900 era bottles and artifacts. lots of blob beers and patent meds and local druggists were coming out. We finished digging both pits about the same time and then moved a few blocks north and started on one of the two yards with the barrel lined pits these usually go about 8 feet deep.

The first one probed good and opened up easily it had some nice layering to it and at about 4 feet gave way to a thick trash layer that started with 1880s bottles and by the bottom everything was pontiled. Sadly they threw many bricks in the trash layer and smashed most of the good ones. But we still managed a few good ones.

The second barrel pit wasn't looking as good at about 3 feet they found a couple miller lite cans from the late 1970s early 1980s and the fill looked a bit mulched up. A bit deeper down a styrofoam cup really confirmed that this pit had been dug 30 years ago.

after getting these both filled in and the yards cleaned up we headed over to a parking lot Alan owns in town and went over the finds and did the pick. everyone got something decent.

Overall it was a great day of digging we encountered all kind of typical digging obstacles from pits that were already dug, yards you can't find the pit in, wet mucky pits, and deep pits filled with clay and no bottles. buts still we got them dug and filled in and had great friends to do it with.

Chris

This first picture shows us opening up the deep brickliner





Attachment (1)

_____________________________

Please visit my website Antique Bottles Of Baltimore at : www.baltimorebottles.com

Looking to buy Pontiled Baltimore bottles of all types

Email me at baltimorebottles@gmail.com
Post #: 1
RE: Alan's Pre Christmas Dig Party - 12/23/2011 3:30:30 PM   
baltbottles

 

Posts: 2300
Joined: 11/25/2002
From: Baltimore Maryland
Status: offline 		Heres Phil, Tom, and Pete still working on getting the pit open.




Attachment (1)

_____________________________

Please visit my website Antique Bottles Of Baltimore at : www.baltimorebottles.com

Looking to buy Pontiled Baltimore bottles of all types

Email me at baltimorebottles@gmail.com

(in reply to baltbottles)
Post #: 2
RE: Alan's Pre Christmas Dig Party - 12/23/2011 3:31:11 PM   
baltbottles

 

Posts: 2300
Joined: 11/25/2002
From: Baltimore Maryland
Status: offline 		Finally got it open and starting to pull some buckets




Attachment (1)

_____________________________

Please visit my website Antique Bottles Of Baltimore at : www.baltimorebottles.com

Looking to buy Pontiled Baltimore bottles of all types

Email me at baltimorebottles@gmail.com

(in reply to baltbottles)
Post #: 3
RE: Alan's Pre Christmas Dig Party - 12/23/2011 3:32:05 PM   
baltbottles

 

Posts: 2300
Joined: 11/25/2002
From: Baltimore Maryland
Status: offline 		Got the tripod set up heres Alan , Phil , and Statia




Attachment (1)

_____________________________

Please visit my website Antique Bottles Of Baltimore at : www.baltimorebottles.com

Looking to buy Pontiled Baltimore bottles of all types

Email me at baltimorebottles@gmail.com

(in reply to baltbottles)
Post #: 4
RE: Alan's Pre Christmas Dig Party - 12/23/2011 3:32:57 PM   
baltbottles

 

Posts: 2300
Joined: 11/25/2002
From: Baltimore Maryland
Status: offline 		Heres Alan with an interesting Asian tea pot that the other team found.




Attachment (1)

_____________________________

Please visit my website Antique Bottles Of Baltimore at : www.baltimorebottles.com

Looking to buy Pontiled Baltimore bottles of all types

Email me at baltimorebottles@gmail.com

(in reply to baltbottles)
Post #: 5
RE: Alan's Pre Christmas Dig Party - 12/23/2011 3:33:53 PM   
baltbottles

 

Posts: 2300
Joined: 11/25/2002
From: Baltimore Maryland
Status: offline 		Starting to get deep in this pit now. Lots of trash cans filled with heavy clay.




Attachment (1)

_____________________________

Please visit my website Antique Bottles Of Baltimore at : www.baltimorebottles.com

Looking to buy Pontiled Baltimore bottles of all types

Email me at baltimorebottles@gmail.com

(in reply to baltbottles)
Post #: 6
RE: Alan's Pre Christmas Dig Party - 12/23/2011 3:34:31 PM   
baltbottles

 

Posts: 2300
Joined: 11/25/2002
From: Baltimore Maryland
Status: offline 		Pete in a privy




Attachment (1)

_____________________________

Please visit my website Antique Bottles Of Baltimore at : www.baltimorebottles.com

Looking to buy Pontiled Baltimore bottles of all types

Email me at baltimorebottles@gmail.com

(in reply to baltbottles)
Post #: 7
RE: Alan's Pre Christmas Dig Party - 12/23/2011 3:35:25 PM   
baltbottles

 

Posts: 2300
Joined: 11/25/2002
From: Baltimore Maryland
Status: offline 		Steve, Bob, and Statia working on the second brickline.




Attachment (1)

_____________________________

Please visit my website Antique Bottles Of Baltimore at : www.baltimorebottles.com

Looking to buy Pontiled Baltimore bottles of all types

Email me at baltimorebottles@gmail.com

(in reply to baltbottles)
Post #: 8
RE: Alan's Pre Christmas Dig Party - 12/23/2011 3:36:34 PM   
baltbottles

 

Posts: 2300
Joined: 11/25/2002
From: Baltimore Maryland
Status: offline 		Tom, uncovering a nicely decorated piece of stoneware, sadly it was broken in 4 pieces but will make a great glue back.




Attachment (1)

_____________________________

Please visit my website Antique Bottles Of Baltimore at : www.baltimorebottles.com

Looking to buy Pontiled Baltimore bottles of all types

Email me at baltimorebottles@gmail.com

(in reply to baltbottles)
Post #: 9
RE: Alan's Pre Christmas Dig Party - 12/23/2011 3:37:49 PM   
baltbottles

 

Posts: 2300
Joined: 11/25/2002
From: Baltimore Maryland
Status: offline 		Look Tom hit water. Looks like we will have to bail the water out of this one.




Attachment (1)

_____________________________

Please visit my website Antique Bottles Of Baltimore at : www.baltimorebottles.com

Looking to buy Pontiled Baltimore bottles of all types

Email me at baltimorebottles@gmail.com

(in reply to baltbottles)
Post #: 10
RE: Alan's Pre Christmas Dig Party - 12/23/2011 3:38:23 PM   
baltbottles

 

Posts: 2300
Joined: 11/25/2002
From: Baltimore Maryland
Status: offline 		Starting the first Barrel lined pit.




Attachment (1)

_____________________________

Please visit my website Antique Bottles Of Baltimore at : www.baltimorebottles.com

Looking to buy Pontiled Baltimore bottles of all types

Email me at baltimorebottles@gmail.com

(in reply to baltbottles)
Post #: 11
RE: Alan's Pre Christmas Dig Party - 12/23/2011 3:39:15 PM   
baltbottles

 

Posts: 2300
Joined: 11/25/2002
From: Baltimore Maryland
Status: offline 		Steve, Pete, and Phill getting the Barrel opened up.




Attachment (1)

_____________________________

Please visit my website Antique Bottles Of Baltimore at : www.baltimorebottles.com

Looking to buy Pontiled Baltimore bottles of all types

Email me at baltimorebottles@gmail.com

(in reply to baltbottles)
Post #: 12
RE: Alan's Pre Christmas Dig Party - 12/23/2011 3:40:10 PM   
baltbottles

 

Posts: 2300
Joined: 11/25/2002
From: Baltimore Maryland
Status: offline 		Tom, Ratzilla took a bunch more pictures I hope he will post his.

Chris


_____________________________

Please visit my website Antique Bottles Of Baltimore at : www.baltimorebottles.com

Looking to buy Pontiled Baltimore bottles of all types

Email me at baltimorebottles@gmail.com

(in reply to baltbottles)
Post #: 13
RE: Alan's Pre Christmas Dig Party - 12/23/2011 4:06:53 PM   
Dabeel


Posts: 849
Joined: 3/12/2004
From: Baltimore origin, Now the Bay Area,CA
Status: offline 		That's going to be an awesome story and hope to see great pics of bottles to follow.
What a good pre Christmas get together.........I'm jealous!

Doug

(in reply to baltbottles)
Post #: 14
RE: Alan's Pre Christmas Dig Party - 12/23/2011 4:09:42 PM   
Wheelah23


Posts: 4292
Joined: 8/9/2010
From: Glen Ridge, New Jersey
Status: offline 		Great job! I'm happy to dig one privy in a day, and here you guys are digging several! Can't wait to see the finds.

quote:

ORIGINAL: baltbottles

we dug this pit down about 14 feet and probed it with the 9 foot probe and found that it had been cleaned to the bottom and had no trash layer so we filled it in.



This intrigues me. How does one tell, through 9 feet of dirt, that there's no use layer? I know the use has a distinct texture, but is it distinct enough to feel with the probe? I have easily been able to feel when the privy is over, as bottom is usually quite obvious. Also, I don't know whether I'd abandon a pit just because it's been dipped. All four pits I've dug had been dipped to varying degrees, even the ink pit, which had a mixed up 1860's-1870's layer at the bottom.


_____________________________

Looking for bottles from Glen Ridge, Montclair, Bloomfield, Orange, East Orange, West Orange, South Orange, and if I like 'em, any other bottles from Essex County NJ! Also Manahawkin NJ! Message me if you want to find them a new home.

(in reply to baltbottles)
Post #: 15
RE: Alan's Pre Christmas Dig Party - 12/23/2011 4:17:08 PM   
lexdigger

 

Posts: 1769
Joined: 5/31/2005
From: Lexington, Ky.
Status: offline 		If you probe a pit while you're digging it, you can feel it Change when you push through the filled in layers and into the trashy use layer. A lot of times you can tell if it's Loaded with glass or barren. When you're talking about digging a 25-30 foot hole... there'd Better be some glass down there to motivate me to keep digging!!! LOL

(in reply to Wheelah23)
Post #: 16
RE: Alan's Pre Christmas Dig Party - 12/23/2011 4:39:18 PM   
baltbottles

 

Posts: 2300
Joined: 11/25/2002
From: Baltimore Maryland
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Wheelah23

Great job! I'm happy to dig one privy in a day, and here you guys are digging several! Can't wait to see the finds.

quote:

ORIGINAL: baltbottles

we dug this pit down about 14 feet and probed it with the 9 foot probe and found that it had been cleaned to the bottom and had no trash layer so we filled it in.



This intrigues me. How does one tell, through 9 feet of dirt, that there's no use layer? I know the use has a distinct texture, but is it distinct enough to feel with the probe? I have easily been able to feel when the privy is over, as bottom is usually quite obvious. Also, I don't know whether I'd abandon a pit just because it's been dipped. All four pits I've dug had been dipped to varying degrees, even the ink pit, which had a mixed up 1860's-1870's layer at the bottom.



You could feel that the clay never changed it just stayed the same all the way to the bottom. And there was no color change on the tip.

Also pretty much all east cost privies will have been dipped at some point its just did they completely clean the pit out and fill it in right or did they do a crappy job and leave some use layer in the bottom. If I had felt some kind of layer change before the bottom we would have dug down to that change.

Also over time and with a proper probe you can tell weather you are probing ash or clay or soft loamy soil weather you are tapping on  a brick or stone or glass or ceramic. The probe is a very percise tool that in the hands of an experienced digger will speak volumes of information about whats in the ground.

Chris


_____________________________

Please visit my website Antique Bottles Of Baltimore at : www.baltimorebottles.com

Looking to buy Pontiled Baltimore bottles of all types

Email me at baltimorebottles@gmail.com

(in reply to Wheelah23)
Post #: 17
RE: Alan's Pre Christmas Dig Party - 12/23/2011 5:04:48 PM   
RICKJJ59W


Posts: 11889
Joined: 3/8/2007
From: Lehigh Valley US of A
Status: offline 		Looks like a good time guys. Hey Gromit did you go down in the pit or were you on  terraferma the whole time.


Wheelah23 ( Every singe pit was dipped). If they didn't dip them they would fill up in no time. The night men were on the ball.
   The pits that were not dipped before the final  fill in are the pits that have a better chance of having more bottles.



_____________________________

My web site.
Lots of privy and dump dig pictures.
Also dig story's I had published in Antique Bottle & Glass Collector magazine and Western & Eastern Treasure's

www.19thcenturybottlediggers.com







(in reply to lexdigger)
Post #: 18
RE: Alan's Pre Christmas Dig Party - 12/23/2011 5:42:08 PM   
Ratzilla

 

Posts: 422
Joined: 4/29/2009
From: Mullica Hill NJ
Status: offline 		Glad to see the post already underway....here's the first bricky in the opening stages...




Attachment (1)

_____________________________

Always looking for Camden, NJ bottles!

(in reply to RICKJJ59W)
Post #: 19
RE: Alan's Pre Christmas Dig Party - 12/23/2011 5:43:56 PM   
Ratzilla

 

Posts: 422
Joined: 4/29/2009
From: Mullica Hill NJ
Status: offline 		Steve moving some dirt after the hole was done. Lots of stuff in this one...




Attachment (1)

_____________________________

Always looking for Camden, NJ bottles!

(in reply to Ratzilla)
Post #: 20
Page:   [1] 2 3 4   next >   >>
All Forums >> [Bottle Forums] >> Digging and Finding >> Alan's Pre Christmas Dig Party Page: [1] 2 3 4   next >   >>
Jump to:





New Messages No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages Locked w/o New Messages
 Post New Thread
 Reply to Message
 Post New Poll
 Submit Vote
 Delete My Own Post
 Delete My Own Thread
 Rate Posts


Antique Bottles

Forum Software © ASPPlayground.NET Advanced Edition 2.4.5 ANSI

0.129