WorkNet Site Artifacts Gallery

What the Archaeologists Found

Numerous features associated with late 19th and early 20th century residential life were found during the archaeological excavation. Unfortunately, many of the archaeological features were destroyed by modern vandalism, when the area was first cleared back in the 1980s, for a redevelopment project that was never done. However, the archaeologists did locate an undiscovered feature. This feature was a privy hole that contained hundreds of pieces of broken bottles, dishes, cans, animal bones, and clothing materials that were thrown away by the people who lived in a house in the neighborhood more than 100 years ago.

Did you know?

Privies were outdoor toilets, used before indoor plumbing was invented and installed in the 1920s.  Residents often used privies to dispose of household garbage - just like modern day trash cans.

The artifacts found in the feature seem to be the garbage from a saloon that served both alcohol and food to their customers.  Neighborhood saloons would have provided a social setting to local customers and would have served alcohol and food, all of which are found in the privy.  Personal items such as medicine bottles and clothing buttons may have belonged to the people who worked in the saloon, a person or family who may have resided above the saloon or the saloon owner and his family.

The people who lived and worked at the saloon probably purchased their goods from local stores or by mail for mail order stores, such as Sears & Roebuck, now known as just Sears.

The majority of the artifacts include mass-produced items such as plates, drinking glasses, medicine bottles, and food containers that were widely distributed and available at local stores.

That makes archaeologists sort of like detectives looking to the past.  Isn't that cool?

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This City of Stockton web page last reviewed on --- 5/12/2015