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antique bottle collecting; however, the high percentage of broken items Excavation is currently
typically found in a privy is one reason why privy digging is one of underway at the site of Bisbee,
the most unpredictable and arduous methods of attempting to form a Arizona’s Warren Ballpark,
bottle collection. considered the longest continu-
Since there was no garbage removal in the 1800s, household trash— ally operated ballpark in the
empty bottles, old dishes, tins, and the like—were typically thrown out country. While the record of
in the outhouse. Once a house’s pit got full, it would be topped off with ballplayers that came through
dirt and forgotten as the grass overtook it, and the outhouse itself would the ballpark is impressive but
be moved over another hole somewhere else in the yard. The most well-documented, almost
common locations for the privy were directly out the back door, along nothing is known about the
the property line, in the back or rear middle of the lot, or the middle of fans that came to these games.
the yard. Some pits lasted five or 10 years; others not so long, Items such as clothing buttons,
based on how quickly they filled up and how deep they were dug. spent shells, seeds from
Glass or clay bottles are the most likely items to be found in an average discarded food, and fragments
19th century privy. of glass bottles left behind by
The bottles unearthed at these sites tell a lot about the people who the fans in the stands provide
used them. The medicine bottles they bought and discarded show the new insight into Southwestern
diseases they caught and tried to cure. Glass inkwells in the pits indicate American life in the early
their owners could read and write. A large number of liquor bottles 1900s. Automobile glass found
strongly suggest they drank to excess. A stash of certain medicine A beer bottle being carefully in outfield trenches where
bottles hint that the owners had an unhealthy taste for opiates. pulled out at Warren Ballpark wealthier fans could drive onto
For those that have the stomach for privy digging, great finds, the outfield to watch the game
stories, and treasures await, as many a collector will tell you. from their cars is speculated to have come from foul balls. Markings on
a pre-Prohibition fragment of a beer bottle unearthed and dated to
Archeological Digs somewhere between 1905 and 1917 indicate it was manufactured by
Adolphus Busch and that it probably came from a factory in St. Louis.
How did it get to Arizona? Likewise, the team found an almost
17th century English wine bottles, Jamestowne. Photo from Living in the Past
complete bottle, which was restored by a team at the Arizona State
Museum and identified as a bottle of Purity Soda, made in Tucson,
dating to 1926. Interesting story – six years later the owner of the Purity
Soda Works was arrested for bootlegging leading to the question of how
“pure” was the soda? This dig site continues to unearth new items,
stores, and insights, with glass as our link to the past.
The excavation at the bastle house sites of Glenochar and
Smithwood (homes built to house livestock on the first floor and the
tenant farmers who owned them on the second) in the Daer Valley of
Scotland unearthed one of the two largest collections of early 18th
When a homestead or privy site is identified as historically signifi-
cant, great finds get unearthed that add to our historical record. century wine, ale, and medicine bottles to be excavated in Scotland.
In 2004 archaeologists at Historic Jamestowne uncovered a These provide a glimpse into a lifestyle once thought to be quite spare,
brick-lined cellar filled with 300-year-old intact glass wine bottles — whereas the excavation reveals heavy use of ale, wine, tobacco, and food
one of the earliest wine cellars in America. Jamestown Rediscovery being served on fine Staffordshire slipware pottery. Shards of the bottles
archaeologists found 10 onion-shaped glass bottles made in England recovered during excavation were meticulously put in order and recon-
between 1680 and 1700, clustered upright on the dirt floor near one structed into their original shape, although mostly as partial examples.
wall of an 8 x 20 foot rectangular cellar. Other bottle fragments found The largest Smithwood wine bottle found has a capacity of 800ml.
in the area indicate there may have been as many as 30 wine bottles Carried by the Current
stored there. One of the intact bottles bears a glass seal with the initials
“FN”, which indicates it belonged to someone of wealth and status. Between 1864 and 1933, thousands
During the 17th century, it was customary for high-ranking gentlemen of bottles were thrown into the world’s
to order wine bottles from England stamped with their personal seal. It oceans from German ships, each
may be the mark of Francis Nicholson, the governor of Virginia from containing a form on which the captain
1698 to 1705. He moved the capital from Jamestown to Williamsburg would write the date it was jettisoned,
in 1699 after the last Jamestown statehouse burned in 1698. Though the exact coordinates at the time, the
wine was the most likely use for the bottles, none of the intact bottles name of the ship, its home port, and
had corks or liquid remaining in them. travel route. On the back, it asked the
finder to write when and where the
At left: Excavating at
Warren Ballpark bottle had been found and return
The oldest message in a bottle it either to the German Naval
was found in Australia in 2018 Observatory in Hamburg or the nearest
German Consulate.
More than 600 of the
message slips were
returned, the last one
(number 663) just dis-
covered in January,
2018 nearly 590 miles
from where it was
tossed from the bark
ship Paula (a 3-masted
sailing ship) in the
Indian Ocean during
Diggers and sifters at Warren Ballpark its trip from Cardiff,

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