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'SEVERAGE, CESSPITS AND REFUSE COLLECTORS'. THE PROBLEMS OF SEWAGE TREATMENT IN CENTRAL EUROPEAN TOWNS FROM THE 15th C. TO THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th C. - Conference materials

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Kizik E.

Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej

2005

vol. 53

issue 3-4

265-444

The articles published in the above indicated issue of the History of Material Culture Quarterly are revised and extended versions of papers presented at the interdisciplinary conference 'Sewerage, Cesspits and Refuse Collectors. The Problems of Sewage Treatment in Central European Towns from the 15th to the Second Half of the 19th C., held in Gdansk on 26-27 November 2004. The first four articles present the results of archaeological excavations in Elblag (Elbing), Gdansk (Danzig), Torun (Thorn) and Wroclaw (Breslau). Jerzy Piekalski (Institute of Archaeology, Wroclaw University:THE SANITARY CONDITION OF MEDIAEVAL AND EARLY-MODERN TOWNS IN CENTRAL EUROPE FROM THE ARCHAEOLOGIST'S PERSPECTIVE; pp.271-277) describes the degree of soiling in selected towns by comparing the thickness of cultural sediments, and surveys the methods of preventing pollution, such as cobbling the streets and cleaning them with sand, building cesspits and embankments (Lübeck, Brunswick), or drain holes and gutters. Another method was to locate workshops producing lots of waste (tanners, furriers, dyers) close to the town moat. The same area is explored by Robert Krzywdzinski (Archaeological Museum in Gdansk: SEWERS SND CESSPITS IN THE MEDIAEVAL AND MODERN GDANSK IN VIEW OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS; pp.279-291). The author points out that cesspits were often built of 'recycled' material, quoting the example of a latrine made of a sixteenth-century barrel with hoops which had probably been used for transporting herrings. Zbigniew Polak (Institute of Archaeology, Warsaw University) discusses THE MEDIAEVAL AND MODERN SANITARY FACILITIES EXCAVATED AT POWROZNICZA STREET IN GDANSK IN 2002-2004 ON THE BASIS OF RECENT FINDINGS FROM GDANSK; pp. 293-303. Wojciech Brzezowski (Wroclaw Technical University: PLUMBING IN WROCLAW HOUSES IN THE 17th AND 18th C.; pp. 305-312) uses municipal building regulations to clarify the issues of waste disposal, water supply and the location of privies in burgher houses in Wroclaw. Miroslaw Marcinkowski (Museum in Elblag) discusses the cases of latrines from the period between the 13th and 19th c. excavated in Elblag (pp. 313-318). Urszula Sowina (Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the PAN in Warsaw: WATER POLLUTION IN MEDIAEVAL AND EARLY MODERN TOWNS. RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES AND LIMITATIONS; pp.319-330) discusses the frequent use of the town moat and nearby rivers and streams as sewers, quoting numerous examples of French, Italian and Polish towns. Zofia Maciakowska (Gdansk: RESEARCH ON WATER SUPPLY IN THE MAIN TOWN OF GDANSK UNTIL THE BEGINNING OF THE 15th C.; pp. 331-341) presents the functioning, construction, structure and location of waterworks in Gdansk, pointing to a tendency to situate breweries close to water pipes. Roman Czaja (Institute of History and Archive Studies, Torun University: CARING FOR THE SANITARY CONDITIION OF PRUSSIAN TOWNS IN THE 14th AND 15th C.; pp.343-349) surveys the methods used to keep towns clean and the evidence of municipal authorities' care for the good of the citizens, documented for instance in the regulations issued by the Municipal Council of Torun. The author points to the fact that the main source of damage and pollution apart from humans were pigs roaming the streets, which not only soiled them, but also demolished the cobbling when furrowing for food. On the one hand, pigs ate waste and were relatively inexpensive to raise, on the other - they caused substantial damage, which forced the authorities to react. In 1415 the Municipal Council of Torun banned pig-raising within the town, but it is not certain that the regulations were respected. Andrzej Karpinski (Institute of History, Warsaw University) devotes his article to executioners, gravediggers and the problems of cleaning Polish towns in the 16th-18th c.; pp.351-359. The same issue is taken up by Dariusz Kaczor (Institute of History, Gdansk University) in his extensive and well-documented work LABOR INFAMUS - LABOR UTILIS. THE FUNCTIONS OF THE EXECUTIONER IN WASTE DISPOSAL SYSTEMS IN THE CITIES OF ROYAL PRUSSIA IN THE 16th-18th C.; pp.361-376. Both authors show a previously overlooked function of executioners, whom Polish towns employed to empty privies. Although this fact does not make the social function of executioners more likeable, it is undoubtedly an interesting indication of an extra source of their income. Jacek Wijaczka (Institute of History and Archive Studies, Torun University: THE SWORD AND BRUSH. HOW EXECUTIONER CLEANED THE STREET OF KRÓLEWIEC AT THE END OF 17th C. AND AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 18th C.; pp.377-382) discusses the work of executioners in the capital of the Duchy of Prussia. All those very well-documented articles, proving that in various towns of Poland and in Królewiec (Königsberg) executioners literally cleansed the towns of all kinds of refuse, deserve the interest of a wide circle of researchers. Boguslaw Dybas (Institute of History and Archive Studies, Torun University) discusses THE TORUN STATUTE CONCERNING WASTE DISPOSAL FROM 1594 AND ITS ORIGIN; pp.383-388. Józef A. Wlodarski surveys THE PROBLEMS OF HYGIENE IN THE TOWNS OF THE BISHOPRIC OF WARMIA IN THE 17th-18th C.; pp.389-395. Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century municipal resolutions and statutes indicate that the class of 'vile' animals was extended to include ducks and geese, which apparently could badly damage the street surface. Radoslaw Kubicki (Institute of History, Akademia Swietokrzyska in Kielce: THE 'CLEANLINESS' IN THE TOWNS OF THE KIELCE REGIONS IN THE 16th-18th C.; pp.397-409) points to the problems that the inhabitants of the Kielce region had in keeping their towns clean in the early modern period. Ewa Barylewska -Szymańska (Uphagen's House, section of the Historical Museum in Gdansk) uses inventories and press advertisements preserved in the State Archive in Gdansk as well as artefacts from museum collections to present the issue of HYGIENE IN GDANSK HOUSES IN THE 2nd HALF OF THE 18th C.; pp.411-422. The authoress describes dressing table sets and various hygienic paraphernalia, including various bowls, chamber pots, urinals and little personal traps for lice and fleas worn close to the body. The articles by Iwona Janicka (Institute of History, Gdansk University: SANITARY FITTINGS IN VILNIUS IN THE 19th C.; pp.423-431) and Dagmara Fleming-Cejrowska (Institute of History, Bydgoszcz Academy: THE PROBLEM OF PUBLIC TOILETS IN WARSAW IN THE 2nd HALF OF THE 19th C. AS VIEWED BY DOCTORS AND CITY DWELLERS; pp.433-442) address nineteenth-century developments. On the basis of press materials, self-help books and diaries the authors trace the slow process of building modern urban infrastructure (water supply and sewerage systems), which changed the character of cities and was a sign of progress and modernization. The period in question also saw a significant, though not unhampered, growth of the public awareness of the dangers of living in unhygienic conditions.

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1 Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej

1 Kizik E.

1 2005

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'SEVERAGE, CESSPITS AND REFUSE COLLECTORS'. THE PROBLEMS OF SEWAGE TREATMENT IN CENTRAL EUROPEAN TOWNS FROM THE 15th C. TO THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th C. - Conference materials