cesspit

Household refuse was thrown into gutters, and human waste ended up in waterways and local cesspits.

Archaeogeneticist Susanna Sabin and her colleagues found DNA from human gut-dwelling microbes in samples from a 600-year-old household cesspit in Jerusalem and a 700-year-old public toilet in Riga, Latvia.

Various substitutes have been tried for the cesspit, which retain the principle of the hand removal of excreta.

There should be a ventilated trap placed on the pipe leading from the watercloset to the cesspit.

Where a cesspit is unavoidable, perhaps the best and least offensive system for emptying it is the pneumatic system.