Informe de avance sobre el proceso de intervención arqueológica de una letrina sanitaria del siglo XVIII en el patio del Museo Nacional Cabildo de Buenos Aires (2024-2025).

This postdoctoral research investigates the archaeological remains of the cesspit associated with a latrine structure located in the present-day courtyard of the Cabildo Museum of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The feature is situated adjacent to the southern wing of the building, in the area where the foundations of the three arches demolished between 1928 and 1933 were uncovered. The excavation of this sanitary structure forms part of a broader archaeological research project that has been conducted in the museum courtyard since 2017.

The investigation of the cesspit constitutes the central component of my postdoctoral research and aims to reconstruct the internal processes of spatial transformation that occurred within this sector of the building. Through the archaeological analysis of the feature and its architectural context, the study seeks to explain the successive construction phases, structural modifications, and spatial superimpositions that shaped the configuration of the southern courtyard of the former Cabildo of Buenos Aires and its associated prison facilities.

Although the standing structure of the Cabildo dates to the reconstruction completed in 1725, the archaeological evidence suggests that the latrine cesspit postdates the construction of the masonry foundations currently exposed in this area. It is further hypothesized that the sanitary feature was either associated with, or predates, the adaptation of this sector as a women's prison between 1805 and 1811. By integrating archaeological, architectural, and documentary evidence, this research contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the functional evolution of the Cabildo and the transformation of its institutional spaces during the late colonial period.