Summary

This small bottle was excavated at the Commonwealth Block site between 1988 and 2003.

Health and hygiene.
'Cleanliness is next to Godliness'. This is a difficult maxim to follow when 'there is not one bath in sixty', when sewerage gathers in cesspits and open drainage channels line the streets.But the residents of Little Lon did practice personal hygiene. Archaeologists have uncovered toothbrushes and toothpaste pots, scent bottles, soap dishes, combs and hairbrushes.
Clean teeth and neat hair did not guarantee good health however. Doctors were expensive, so ordinary people had to rely on medicines like Holloway's Ointment and Hall's Vegetable Pain Conqueror as well as Chinese herbal remedies. Children were dosed weekly with the laxative castor oil, to keep their bowels regular.

Physical Description

This is a small clear glass bottle. It was manufactured using a two piece vertical mould and had stopper closure. It has a two-part finish with a flanged lip and a cylindrical neck with sloped down shoulders. The body is an oval shape with straight sides. It has a flat basal profile and no pontil scar. The glass has become opalised.

Physical Description

Bottle, clear. Two piece vertical mould, stopper closure. Finish-two piece hip flanged, neck cylindrical, shoulders sloped down. Body profile horizontal oval, vertical straight. Basal profile flat. No pontil scar. Base 49 x 21mm, height 120mm.

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