Dan and Fellow HistArchers:
In excavating a 9 ft deep cellar beneath the kitchen ell of a country house built between 1729 and 1740, we encountered an oval pit, about 4 ft and 3 ft along its major and minor axes, in the floor of the cellar. It yielded the remains, largely reconstructable, of nearly two dozen early 19th century wine bottles. I did not expect to find a pit of uncertain function in the floor of a cellar. Our work had focused on identifying and sampling deposits formed during the use of the cellar prior to its having been abandoned and filled with demolition debris.

As for hazards, moldering plaster and highly unstable brick walls posed hazards.

Jim Gibb
Annapolis, MD  USA

----- Original Message -----
From: Daniel H. Weiskotten
Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2004 10:18 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Underhouse Archaeology

A few days ago I had the pleasure to visit Charles Pinckney National
Historic Site at Snee Farm northeast of Charleston, SC.  I was impressed at
the use of archaeology to tell the story of the plantation during
Pinckney's time, a necessity because none of Pinckney's buildings remain.

http://www.cr.nps.gov/seac/chpi/index.htm

I was quite interested in the "underhouse" excavations as I have one site
that lies under an existing building and I have another building that has
been tested all around, but not under (although a mass of late 18th century
wine bottle fragments were found in the 1980s while enlarging the stairs to
the 20th century furnace room).

What guidelines, techniques, clothing, dust masks, health issues, words of
wisdom, etc., do listers have to share?

I am well aware of black widows!

        Dan W.