Hi all,

     I agree with having a geologist look at it, most of them are quite good at determining if something is natural or cultural.
     If it is sitting on top of the subsoil (clay I presume, since we have clay most everywhere here in Ky)it is probably not natural.  You can find decomposing limestone that shallow, but it will be above the real limestone bedrock.
    Before you call in the geologist:  Have you determined its boundaries? What are the horizontal dimensions? is it one layer of rock or multiple, overlapping etc?  I have seen square or rectangular chimney bases intact sub-plowzone that are constructed of dry-laid limestone.  They have ranged in size from 5 ft to 10 ft in diameter.  Anything larger than that could be a pavement or floor of some sort?  I found the floor of a blacksmith shop once that included a limestone pavement and foundation for the forge (it also included a "herringbone" patterned brick floor adjacent to it).

Jeannine Kreinbrink


> Are you sure this isn't marl - i.e., entirely natural? Have a geologist
> look at it to be sure.
>
> Maureen Basedow, Ph.d
> Greensboro, NC
>
> Sarah Miller wrote:
>
> >Fellow Histarchies,
> >
> >Recently on an early nineteenth-century site in
> >Kentucky we found a 20 cm thick layer of granular,
> >almost fried looking limestone.  It chips off the sub
> >easily at 47 cm below the surface.  Historically, we
> >know they made bricks and processed mortar on the
> >site.  A few weeks and a county later, I saw a similar
> >layer on a mid-nineteenth-century farm residence.  No
> >artifacts were found in either layer.
> >
> >My question is- has anyone else seen this in relation
> >to mortar processing or other activities?  From the
> >Histarch archives I have a reference for Harley
> >McKee's Intro to Early American Masonry...  Any
> >examples from archaeological contexts would be most
> >helpful.
> >
> >Thanks!
> >
> >Sarah
> >
> >[log in to unmask]
> >Kentucky Archaeological Survey
> >Lexington, KY
> >
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