Archaeologists are excavating what they believe was the site of an outhouse next door to Paul Revere's home — and the "privy," as the colonists politely called their potties, could be flush with artifacts.

Revere was famed for his midnight ride April 18, 1775 — during the American Revolution — warning that the British were coming.

Historians say people typically dumped trash and household goods in their outhouses. On Thursday, the second full day of the dig, volunteers with the City of Boston Archaeological Program were already pulling fragments of pottery, bottles and a tobacco pipe from the bricked yard of the Pierce-Hichborn House in the heart of Boston's North End.