"Underneath the chestnut tree the village...."
 
     Sorry I just thought a little dry humor wouldn't kill anyone.  The
Advantages of a dirt floor in a Blacksmith's shop is that one, dirt
doesn't burn and two it is free unlike concrete, stone, or wood.  While
it is ture that concrete and stone also do not burn a blacksmiths
primary expense would have been iron and carbon steels not to mention
the tools of the trade.
     The pits are doubtless, as stated previously, contain the slag from
the valve under the fire bowl of the forge.  This valve allows for the
klinker and fly ash to be removed so as not to clog the chimney.  The
"reddening" might just be due to the heat of the klinker.  Another
possibility is the annealing process.  Traditional smiths would use the
fly ash from their own forge to cover up a red hot piece of steel to
allow it to cool slowly, thereby softening it.  This is important for a
number of reasons.  The first being if a carbon steel is not annealed
properly I guarantee you will ruin a perfectly good file on it.  The
second takes us into the age old realm of recycling.  Most smiths, even
today, hoard tool steels/ high carbon steels as they are rather costly
if purchased new.  In order to ensure that while you are forging
something out of recycled material it doesn't break it is necessary to
anneal it several times to relive the stresses on the crystalline
structure from previous use.  This process of repeated annealing is
called normalizing.  This reduces the amount of cursing a smith needs to
do as well.
    As for the trough I have no idea, but I can ask my
metals/blacksmithing prof.  I would need to see exactly what it looked
like in order to make any kind of guess.
    And my friends told me a double major in archaeology and art wasn't
worth it.                 Michael LaRonge
 
P.S. To the individual who posted the bib. on smithing, Thanks!