The archaeology of private life: the Dudley Castle condoms

Abstract

During excavations of the mid 1980s at Dudley Castle in the West Midlands the contents of the keep garderobe were recovered intact and processed by sieving and hand-sorting, with samples being subjected to full laboratory analysis. The latrine was sealed during demolition of the castle’s defences in 1647, the intact deposit containing both the domestic and organic remains of the occupying royalist force which defended the castle under siege conditions between 1642 and 1646. Examination of the compacted organic mass of the latrine produced fragments of ten individual animal-membrane condoms, which were subsequently taken to the Department of Scientific Research, British Museum, for further analysis. The terminus ante quem deposit of 1647 represents the earliest definitive physical evidence for the use of animal-membrane condoms in post-medieval Europe, although at this early date it is impossible to know for sure whether they were designed as prophylactics for protection against venereal disease or as contraceptive devices. This report comprises a note on the excavation of the Dudley Castle garderobe and the process of recovery (PB and SL), a full scientific report on the condoms which includes a comparative examination of a set of late 18th-century condoms in the British Museum collections (CC), and concludes with a discussion of the significance of the Dudley Castle finds in the light of the historical evidence for early condom technology and use (DG). This paper was edited for publication by DG.