Hello Fellow Histarchers:

As a related side note, the duplex that I lived in in
Japan (Niigata prefecture) had a "pit" built directly
into the wooden floor.  It was located in the center
of the kitchen, and was accesed via a trapdoor that
matched the hardwood floor.  The "pit" consisted of a
large igloo cooler type plastic container (approx. 3.5
x 2.5 ft), mounted directly into the subflooring and
supended above the ground surface.  Since the house
was not insulated, it provided an effective storage
area for root crops and vegetable goods (and beer)
during the winter and part of the spring.  I did
notice that the heat of the house kept things from
freezing in the storage container.  Its utility as
cold storage diminished with the increasing heat of
the spring, however.

Since the it was "company" housing, owned by the
township and university I worked for, I do suppose its
use as a "root cellar" for cold storage was the
sanctioned purpose.

If there were some company chickens that I could have
absconded with and covertly BBQ'd during the night,
however, this would have made an OK temporary hiding
place for my contraband.  Since the location of the
"rootcellar" was known to my employers, it would not
have made a great place to store things of a
critically subversive or important nature.

Best wishes,

Dane Magoon



--- heather henderson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hello All -
> In Southern Ontario, almost every settler's cabin
> has a sub-floor pit. We
> have seen them in contexts that include both United
> Empire Loyalists from
> the States (1780s+) and British Isles immigrants (on
> into 1850s or so). They
> are generally roughly rectangular, less than 1.5 - 2
> metres long, may be
> unlined or floored with wood or flagstone. They
> usually contain some small
> objects that would have fallen between the floor
> boards (pins, coins,
> buttons etc.). Remnant depths below plough zone
> range from about 10 cm to 60
> cm. Since log structures in ploughed fields leave
> almost no footprint, the
> subfloor pits (which are usually found fairly
> central to the artifact
> surface scatter), are often the main
> structure-related feature identifying
> the cabin location. Many sites also have a separate,
> deeper root cellar
> structure.
>
> Some of the list discussion has focussed on ethnic
> identification of houses
> with these pits in southern parts of the States
> where winter frost is not an
> issue. The high frequency of pits in early housing
> in more northern climes
> may relate to practicalities of frost protection
> rather than any ethnic issue.
>
> Heather
>
> Heather Henderson
> Principal Archaeologist
> Historic Horizon Inc.
> Toronto, Ontario
> 416-944-9687


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