Fellow HistARCHers:
The pit I have noted in previous postings and to which Ron has referred is nine feet below grade, within the cellar hole of an 18th-century building. The pit contains early 19th-century materials.
Concealment strikes me as a plausible explanation, servants or slaves clandestinely raiding the pantry and hiding the evidence. There is no archival evidence or folklore of which I am aware that would connect the scale of discard with any particular belief or ritual.
Mark Leone and his Archaeology in Annapolis colleagues have hypothesized a pattern of ritual burial of certain types of artifacts by enslaved Africans in the cellars of 18th-century mansions, and the evidence from the Carroll House in Annapolis seems to provide the most supportable example. These, however, are small caches of ceramic sherds, quartz or gypsum crystals, bones, and pins.
I have not devised any test implications for concealment of stolen goods that were subsequently used and the remains discarded. I think that is the next order of business.
On the matter of general deposits of material accumulating beneath floorboards, I've always been uncomfortable with that concept. I've seen no test implications for the hypothesis and wonder what kind of floor--especially with a subfloor--would allow accumulation of more than the odd pin or marble, or such objects as might be accumulated by rodents. Understanding the transformation processes responsible for these deposits seems essential for their interpretation.
Jim Gibb
Annapolis, Maryland USA
----- Original Message -----
From: Ron May
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2004 11:18 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: sub-floor deposits
Jim,
The problem I have with the concealment issue is the broken condition of the
artifacts. I am aware of live cats and chickens and whole shoes being
walled-up in walls and chimneys. Welsh peasants buried horse heads or at least the
skulls under barn and house floors for protection. Bent coins, broken knives,
separated scissor parts, bottles of pins and broken pins are also documented as
wards installed in floors, window and door thresholds, and walls to protect
people inside buildings. I have even seen a bowl of food bones that might have
been fed to a spirit, as easily as someone's dog. But broken artifacts and food
debris sounds like a trash pit. Could the pit predate the age of the house?
Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.
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