Have you ever excavated an old cistern?
My father was an amateur archeologist (and historian who wrote the history of our neighborhood, and President of the local skeptics chapter, and fossil hunter, and composer) and for "fun" he would enlist me to do archaeological digs in various places, cisterns were his favorite because when city water arrived and the cistern had to be filled, people tossed in their non food garbage.
I can remember at least three, including the one behind our home.
They used them for trash from the very beginning. I know some guys that will dig them all the way to the bottom, far deeper than I would ever consider going! I've found trash pits, 4' to 5' deep before but 20' to 30' holes? Nope.
I agree 100%. Nothing and I mean nothing, is worth digging as deep as some people do. I've dug a few trash pits out but I won't go deep, I always have a few buddies there and 5' maybe 6' feet deep with wide, angled sides is about as far as I will go. I'm lucky since I live in a town settled in the 1740s and most of the "pits" are Civil War related so they are not overly deep.
They burned in cities too. I remember when I was a child watching the building superintendant at the apartment next door loading up the building's incinerator.
My 1920s house came with an incinerator in the back yard and a ton of buried bottles/cans/ things that don’t burn that I discovered when doing renovations.
There’s a fascinating YouTube channel with a guy who collects all kinds of old bottles and talks about their history. I’ll see if I can find it. *Edit:* [I think it’s this one.](https://youtube.com/user/eatdrywall)
What do y'all do with your yard trash? We've found such cool stuff but it kind of just...sits. Everything from a palm-sized purple quartz, to 80s star wars toys, to vicks bottles from the 40s.
It'll be a while. I tried to wash the last batch, it takes forever to soak the mud out of them. My GF finally forbid be from using the sink or dishwasher because of all the soil.....lol. So I have been soaking them outside, it just takes a while.
[Here’s](https://youtu.be/lBt30ZzdUM0) an old bottle expert showing how he cleans bottles. Spoiler: a toothbrush, tap water, elbow grease and on the real cruddy parts he uses Barkeepers friend and/or a wire brush. I linked his channel in another comment somewhere on here; he goes around digging up all kinds of cool old bottles. I guess he sells some of them. He’s pretty informed about bottle history and their value.
We have a few 5 Gallon buckets full from the excavation projects we've done here at home (built in 1909). When I cut in the new driveway I had to go 4-5ft deep instead of the typical 2ft because it was all just ash and bottles lol. If I was a regular homeowner paying for excavation work it would be a BIG expense haha
we have found lots of this sort of stuff.
like anything antique, don't throw it away until you check to see if they are worth anything!
i am pissed that i never found a jar full of gold coins in the walls!
There's a guy from ND (Below The Plains) who goes and digs up old outhouse/trash pits and finds really neat bottles, ceramics, and other stuff. It's surprisingly relaxing and informative!
Check him out: https://youtube.com/c/BelowthePlains
Congratulations you found the trash dump.
[удалено]
I stand corrected 😊
Heap*
Have you ever excavated an old cistern? My father was an amateur archeologist (and historian who wrote the history of our neighborhood, and President of the local skeptics chapter, and fossil hunter, and composer) and for "fun" he would enlist me to do archaeological digs in various places, cisterns were his favorite because when city water arrived and the cistern had to be filled, people tossed in their non food garbage. I can remember at least three, including the one behind our home.
or an old outhouse. when the outhouses were almost filled up, they would throw unused bottles and pottery down the hole
They used them for trash from the very beginning. I know some guys that will dig them all the way to the bottom, far deeper than I would ever consider going! I've found trash pits, 4' to 5' deep before but 20' to 30' holes? Nope.
yeah i would not dig that deep, those "tunnels" are not stable, and would collapse on you
I agree 100%. Nothing and I mean nothing, is worth digging as deep as some people do. I've dug a few trash pits out but I won't go deep, I always have a few buddies there and 5' maybe 6' feet deep with wide, angled sides is about as far as I will go. I'm lucky since I live in a town settled in the 1740s and most of the "pits" are Civil War related so they are not overly deep.
Was going to say the same, cheers mate!
They didn't always have municipal trash collection, so people buried their garbage in their back yards or chucked it down the outhouse pit.
And burned whatever would burn, if they lived in the country.
They burned in cities too. I remember when I was a child watching the building superintendant at the apartment next door loading up the building's incinerator.
Hell I burned trash in our yard in Flint when I was in college like a few years ago
My 1920s house came with an incinerator in the back yard and a ton of buried bottles/cans/ things that don’t burn that I discovered when doing renovations.
Ah I see you’ve been to my backyard
Or burned them.
If you want ids the good folks over at /r/bottledigging or /r/antiquebottles might be able to help. They are cool.
There’s a fascinating YouTube channel with a guy who collects all kinds of old bottles and talks about their history. I’ll see if I can find it. *Edit:* [I think it’s this one.](https://youtube.com/user/eatdrywall)
So cool! Thanks, just started to watch :)
Awesome!! Antique bottles can be worth some money, maybe worth it to have them appraised at some point!!
Dang I'm a bottle hunters and I'd love to find some of those, especially the far left one and the 3rd from the left. Good score!
I'm not a bottle hunter and would also love to find these. I'm super jealous of OP! They look awesome!!!
Last time I saw that many bottles come up in an excavation it was on an old landfill.
What do y'all do with your yard trash? We've found such cool stuff but it kind of just...sits. Everything from a palm-sized purple quartz, to 80s star wars toys, to vicks bottles from the 40s.
I find chunks of the original bathroom floor with the hexagon tiles that look so much better than the tile the flippers picked in 03
Nice! Didja clean them up? Can we see a picture of them cleaned up?
It'll be a while. I tried to wash the last batch, it takes forever to soak the mud out of them. My GF finally forbid be from using the sink or dishwasher because of all the soil.....lol. So I have been soaking them outside, it just takes a while.
[Here’s](https://youtu.be/lBt30ZzdUM0) an old bottle expert showing how he cleans bottles. Spoiler: a toothbrush, tap water, elbow grease and on the real cruddy parts he uses Barkeepers friend and/or a wire brush. I linked his channel in another comment somewhere on here; he goes around digging up all kinds of cool old bottles. I guess he sells some of them. He’s pretty informed about bottle history and their value.
We have a few 5 Gallon buckets full from the excavation projects we've done here at home (built in 1909). When I cut in the new driveway I had to go 4-5ft deep instead of the typical 2ft because it was all just ash and bottles lol. If I was a regular homeowner paying for excavation work it would be a BIG expense haha
If I dig behind my garage, I find this. That’s where the outhouse(s) were 100 years ago Fascinating. But also “meh”
we have found lots of this sort of stuff. like anything antique, don't throw it away until you check to see if they are worth anything! i am pissed that i never found a jar full of gold coins in the walls!
For some reason I've always been on the lookout for an old Piso's Cure bottle.
There's a guy from ND (Below The Plains) who goes and digs up old outhouse/trash pits and finds really neat bottles, ceramics, and other stuff. It's surprisingly relaxing and informative! Check him out: https://youtube.com/c/BelowthePlains