History in the Back Yard: Tardis or Turd House?

A few years ago, I noticed a spot, about a foot in diameter, in our still undeveloped backyard where the grass would dry sooner than nearby. Chickens would dig around in there, and there was a little depression. Upon closer examination, this spot appeared to be composed of sand and gravel--round gravel--rather than the sandy loam topsoil normal in this area. Hmmm, I thought, maybe it was a gray-water dump spot... used by the lady that previously lived in this house... rather primitively.

After removing 6-10 inches of topsoil. Hmmm. Why is this gravel here? What's down there?

Fast forward to summer 2017.... Unexpectedly, I needed to replace our entire septic system: tank, lines, everything. So, I did. In the midst of this effort, while I had my excavator in the vicinity, I decided to investigate the mystery of the dry sandy spot in our back yard that I had wondered about for several years. I had the 36" finishing bucket on (smooth lip, no teeth), and took my first few bites, which got a mix of surrounding hard topsoil (ground was dry as a bone) as well as some sand and gravel. Once the topsoil was gone over the 36" wide path of the bucket, the next scoops filled the 36" bucket almost completely with clean river sand and round rock. Bizarre. My entire bucket would disappear in the loose sand and gravel. It was as if I was playing in a bottomless sand box.

Dry topsoil above, sand and gravel (from a remote source, probably the South Umpqua River)

Additional views of topsoil on top of sand and round gravel and rock.

Before and after the excavation, views from opposite directions.

After scooping out sand and gravel for several feet I decided to jump in and see what was going on. What I saw really surprised me. There were walls; wooden walls. Not like house walls, but just horizontal wooden slats or boards nailed together with a vertical piece at the corners. Now, these were no longer intact wood, but very rotted, with roots coursing through the deteriorated boards. I dug out more gravel to see what I was dealing with.

Wood discovered. Horizontal pieces fastened together at corners by vertical wood pieces and nails.

Additional photos follow, but here I'd like to record a brief description: An underground, square, wooden chamber or pit, 67" across on the inside both ways and about 31" top to bottom (the extent of the wood). The walls were oriented north-south and east-west. The wood grain of the walls was horizontal, and I assume there were probably individual boards, but I could not discern individual boards (seams or gaps), it was just too rotten. Maybe I'll be able to discern from photos. Each of the four corners had a vertical board, through which there were quite a few nails driven into the wall boards (these were corner supports). There was roughly 6-10 inches of soil above this site, except for the small spot at the top center where there was some gravel showing through. (However, I had previously scraped a few inches of topsoil off of this location while grading the area around the house). The soil layer over this spot had obvious layers of pale ash, black burned wood, and reddish soil that I recognized as having experienced extreme heat. At the bottom of the sand and gravel, just a few inches below the bottom level of the wood walls, the native soil was again present and dug out to up to a foot or so below the level of the wooden walls, being deepest in the middle.

In conclusion, it appears there was some sort of wooden-walled pit here that either had sand and gravel in it, or was filled with sand and gravel upon decommissioning. There may have been a wooden structure that was over this spot that was burned down. My best guess at this point is that this was an outhouse. However, I found no evidence of "waste" in the sand and gravel or in the soil at the bottom of the pit, but perhaps it has been in there so long in the soil that it is difficult to detect. Or, they got indoor plumbing and never used the outhouse. Or it's something else. Actually my original thought was perhaps a root cellar, but this area would be filled with water in winter. Any thoughts?

Needing to move on and reclaim my back yard, I put the sand and gravel back in the pit, from whence it came. But before doing so, I recorded photos and measurements to document this discovery, and that's what this page is about.

IF YOU HAVE ANY OPINIONS OR INSIGHTS INTO WHAT THIS IS, I'D BE INTERESTED TO HEAR. You can comment below or email me at matthewghunter@gmail.com.

SW corner from a distance and a bit closer.


SW corner from inside the pit; close-up of corner and nails.

West wall and SW corner with nails.

SW corner: close-up of the top few nails.

East wall. Some wood pieces falling off.

SE corner and nails.

NE Corner and nails.

Nails were almost completely deteriorated and would fall apart if you crushed them in your hand.

Another couple nails. One on right it appears to show the ribs sometimes seen at the base of the shank.

FOLLOWING ARE NUMEROUS PHOTOS SHOWING THE LAYERS OF ASH, CHAR FROM BURNED WOOD, AND REDDISH SOIL FROM THE FIRE OVER THIS SPOT, AS WELL AS LAYERS OF THE SAND AND GRAVEL MATERIAL INSIDE THE WOOD-WALLED PIT.