A cesspool containing a "time capsule" with objects from the XV century was found in the Netherlands

During excavations in the center of the city and municipality of Alkmaar in the Netherlands, archaeologists found a cesspool containing a "time capsule" with objects from the XV century. The discovery was made during the construction of an underground garbage container.

The "time capsule" was preserved in the anaerobic conditions of the pit flooded with water. The most remarkable find is a wooden shoe made of birch, a tree that does not grow in the Netherlands, Heritage Daily reports.

"Only 44 clogs have been found in the history of the Netherlands and Belgium. Most of them are much less old and in much worse condition," commented urban archaeologist Nancy de Jong on the find. She also added that the inhabitants of 15th-century Holland practiced a "circular economy" where everything was reused, melted down, or eventually burned to heat their homes.

"Most clogs have a rustic, rough model. But this one is elegant and has a double heel: something like a city clog," she says of the shoes she found.

Another interesting find in the pit is a rare grain measure made of thin oak. Only five fragments of grain measures have been found in all of Belgium and the Netherlands. The measures were known only from descriptions and images, which makes the find from Alkmaar particularly valuable as the first relatively intact specimen.

According to the researchers, the cesspool was actively used as a toilet and for garbage disposal between 1450 and 1558 AD. After this period, the houses on the site were demolished and the pit was abandoned.

All finds will be sent for stabilization, conservation, and further study. Where possible, they will be restored using non-invasive methods to reassemble their broken parts for further display to the public.

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