Digger George
Well-Known Member
Just a few hours ago me and Matt(PhilaBottles) just got into a situation that I hope a bottle digger never has to go through. This afternoon we found a construction site, the size of a football field, that was being cut down about 5 feet. We went up to one of the workers to get permission to go on site. we explained to them we dig the old outhouse holes where they through all their trash. We said we recover these historical artifacts that will be lost forever after the site is built over. He was intrigued by this and said sure go look around and dig some holes. This was said by the owner of the property's son, who managed the site. Then the owner(dad) came over and said just make sure you fill in the holes and keep the surface level.
There where many blocks of row homes on this site, 1700's and 1800's. Right away we found a small wood lined privy that was destroyed and there was broken redware slip glaze plates and black glass shards all over. The bottom 3 inches were untouched but just left us with broken pottery. Very shortly after, about 15 ft away, we found clay and ash on the surface that was a different color from the rest of the ground, we probed it and it sunk in like butter. We dug it out and found a bricklined cilinder that was 8 feet across! This privy easily fit two people so we dug it down fast.
My brother came over to help, it was his first privy dig! We were digging and pulling buckets at a fast pace. We got down 10 feet and hit the trash layer with pontiled shards coming out. Then a minite later I heard the owner YO GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE I'M CALLIN THE COPS and his eyes were popping out of his head. His wife said YA THROW THOSE GUYS IN PRISON. Three minitues later 5 police cars pulled up to the site so fast I thought we might have been thrown against the cars, handcuffed and taken away but that didn't happen. We all got written up and questioned. We were very calm and explained to the cops and the property owner what we were doing there. The owner said I don't want a hole that big in here and I want the ground completely level. He said you guys don't have the right insurance and can sue me if you get hurt. We said your son did give us permission to dig earlier. Then the owner called his son and gave me the phone and his son was telling me he didn't say we can dig. Very weird because the owner said we could dig too. All the cops that were there knew we were digging out the old poop hole, which is what they called it. They actually respect this and know they have more important things to do. The cops said the owner doesn't want any offenses on us, just for us to never come back and dig. I could tell the cops were like, this is a joke, then they left. The owner then told me YOU GUYS SURE DO WORK HARD, I SHOULD PUT YOU ALL TO WORK. Then he said YA WE DIG UP HUNDERDS OF BOTTLES AND JUST THROW THEM AWAY, BUT I WILL PUT THEM ASIDE FOR YOU GUYS. I said do you want us to fill in the hole now. He said no I will do it tommorow. AAAAAHHHH right now I'm going insane, oh i just rememberd I left my favorite shovel on the site and also a very early sterling silver lighter that had more embossing then you can imagine, possibly masonic. AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH I'M SOOOO DEPRESSED!
There are dozens of privys to dig on this site, we thought we had permission to dig them, now it's over. Well I don't want to give up! Does anyone have any great ideas? Is it possible to get a release form for this kind of work. We have made our own Archaeological Site Surveys which we didn't have on us to show them. That father and son duo need to comunicate better with each other and us. I would love to make that work.
I was able to take some pics for ya'll before we were thrown out.
LOOK AT THE OUTLINE OF THE HOUSE ON THE WALL
There where many blocks of row homes on this site, 1700's and 1800's. Right away we found a small wood lined privy that was destroyed and there was broken redware slip glaze plates and black glass shards all over. The bottom 3 inches were untouched but just left us with broken pottery. Very shortly after, about 15 ft away, we found clay and ash on the surface that was a different color from the rest of the ground, we probed it and it sunk in like butter. We dug it out and found a bricklined cilinder that was 8 feet across! This privy easily fit two people so we dug it down fast.
My brother came over to help, it was his first privy dig! We were digging and pulling buckets at a fast pace. We got down 10 feet and hit the trash layer with pontiled shards coming out. Then a minite later I heard the owner YO GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE I'M CALLIN THE COPS and his eyes were popping out of his head. His wife said YA THROW THOSE GUYS IN PRISON. Three minitues later 5 police cars pulled up to the site so fast I thought we might have been thrown against the cars, handcuffed and taken away but that didn't happen. We all got written up and questioned. We were very calm and explained to the cops and the property owner what we were doing there. The owner said I don't want a hole that big in here and I want the ground completely level. He said you guys don't have the right insurance and can sue me if you get hurt. We said your son did give us permission to dig earlier. Then the owner called his son and gave me the phone and his son was telling me he didn't say we can dig. Very weird because the owner said we could dig too. All the cops that were there knew we were digging out the old poop hole, which is what they called it. They actually respect this and know they have more important things to do. The cops said the owner doesn't want any offenses on us, just for us to never come back and dig. I could tell the cops were like, this is a joke, then they left. The owner then told me YOU GUYS SURE DO WORK HARD, I SHOULD PUT YOU ALL TO WORK. Then he said YA WE DIG UP HUNDERDS OF BOTTLES AND JUST THROW THEM AWAY, BUT I WILL PUT THEM ASIDE FOR YOU GUYS. I said do you want us to fill in the hole now. He said no I will do it tommorow. AAAAAHHHH right now I'm going insane, oh i just rememberd I left my favorite shovel on the site and also a very early sterling silver lighter that had more embossing then you can imagine, possibly masonic. AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH I'M SOOOO DEPRESSED!
There are dozens of privys to dig on this site, we thought we had permission to dig them, now it's over. Well I don't want to give up! Does anyone have any great ideas? Is it possible to get a release form for this kind of work. We have made our own Archaeological Site Surveys which we didn't have on us to show them. That father and son duo need to comunicate better with each other and us. I would love to make that work.
I was able to take some pics for ya'll before we were thrown out.
LOOK AT THE OUTLINE OF THE HOUSE ON THE WALL
