The ash and lime in barrels like these sounds like they were used for
generating lye, which was commonly used to make soap, domestically. If
found in great number, they could be indicative of an ashery--a site
where potash was made. Such a site would have a great number of leach
barrels. The lime was added to the ashes in order to increase the
causticity of the resultant lye, making it useful in certain other
manufactures. If your interested in this topic, I will be presenting a
paper on the American potash industry in Mobile. Good luck!
Elizabeth Pena wrote:
>
> Donna,
>
> In excavations last summer at Old Fort Niagara in Youngstown, NY, we
> found an intact barrel adjacent to and slightly tucked under the
> foundation of a bake house that was built in 1869 (there are photos on
> our web site,
> http://fortniagara.buffalo.edu. Photo #9 from 6/18/01 shows some barrel
> staves; Photo #1 from 6/14/01 shows the feature and its relationship to
> the bake house foundation). The barrel was filled with ash and slag. I
> thought that perhaps the barrel had been installed at the time of bake
> house construction as a receptacle for ash, which could have been used
> for lye. We removed the lowest barrel hoop intact. In a few places,
> portions of the barrel staves were preserved, and exhibit what appear to
> be copper alloy sheeting under the iron nails. The barrel measured 21 in
> in diameter and 17 1/2 in in height. Perhaps this is too small for a
> rain barrel? I really hadn't thought about this use, as there was a well
> nearby and Fort Niagara (which is located right on Lake Ontario) has
> easy access to fresh water.
>
> Elizabeth Peņa
> Dep't of Anthropology, University at Buffalo
>
> "Stubbs, Donna L" wrote:
>
> > Listers:
> >
> > During a recent Phase II excavation in Dubuque, we examined a feature that
> > was described as a cistern, however, the artifacts recovered from the
> > excavation included a large number of barrel hoop fragments as well as a lot
> > of household trash. An Internet search turned up a reference to an
> > excavation in Minnesota where two features with intact barrel hoops were
> > uncovered. The interpretation there was that rain barrels had been
> > partially buried to half their height and besides their original function
> > had also been used as trash barrels.
> >
> > My questions: Has this type of feature been identified at other sites here
> > in the US? or elsewhere? How common is this practice? Is there any ethnic
> > correlation? References always welcome.
> >
> > Thanks in advance.
> >
> > Donna Stubbs HDR Engineering, Inc.
> > Archaeologist 6190 Golden Hills Dr.
> > (763)591-5442 Minneapolis, MN 55416
> > mailto: [log in to unmask]
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