Hello Tanya,

I quite agree with others who have interpreted your feature as an in-ground
cistern. Here in Canada such features are commonly found in the cellars of
19th c houses. This location afforded them greater protection from the
Canadian winter as well as provided ready access to the contents for house
occupants. Typically such cisterns were built into a corner or against a
partition wall  which simplified their construction. Brick or stone was
commonly used in their construction; sometimes a lining or parging of
whitewashed mortar was applied to the interior as a further  sealant as
well as provided a surface  suitable to periodic cleaning. The cistern was
filled with rain water conducted from the building roof  to the cistern. A
feature I have found consistent with cistern design, regardless of their
form or even location, is the presence of  inlet and overflow outlet
openings. The overflow outlet, naturally enough, was positioned beneath the
inlet. The overflow was then conducted to the exterior of the building
without flooding the cellar; at least that was the idea.

Peter Sattelberger
Material Culture Researcher
Parks Canada
Ottawa





                      Tanya *Zee*
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                      31/08/04 07:48 PM
                      Please respond to
                      HISTORICAL
                      ARCHAEOLOGY






Hello,

I was told that this list was the perfect place to inquire about this. So,
I
hope everyone is willing to help solve a mystery!

My name is Tanya Laird and I am an archaeology student in Texas. My class
is
working on a site just outside of Austin, on the Boggy Creek Farm. On this
site is a house built in the 1840s. The house is on the original build
site.
Outside of the house, off the front porch, under a bedroom window,
beginning
approximately 1ft from the base of the house we have a mysterious pit.

The pit is brick lined with a cap of cement around the perimeter. The brick
is the same brick used in the foundation of the house. The dimensions are
roughly 3.5'x8'x6'. The six foot depth is the current depth, no further
excavation has been done because of concern of the structual safety. But,
our crew chief thinks we've found the bottom. The pit was filled with sand
in the 1930's to create a winter vegetable garden. Before that it appears
to
have been used as a trash pit. However, the original use of this pit
remains
a mystery to us. It's closeness to the house is baffling. No ladders,
planks, hinges or locks or evidence of stairs have currently been found.
Just glass bottles from the early 20th century.

Some students think it was a privvy, but it is so close to the house and
other than being brick lined and having bottles in it does not seem to have
any other signs of having been used as such (ie, no clay bowls, no lime,
etc). It has also been suggested that it was a root cellar or storage pit,
but it is on the opposite side of the house from the kitchen (though that
may not ultimately matter) and there are no signs of stairs (though a
ladder
may have been used). A student hypothesized a cistern, but I thought these
were round and above ground. This site is a class project, but most of us
have experience with other site types (mesoamerican, agean, etc) so
mid-nineteenth century American farmstead isn't really in our repretoire.
We've had some outside archaeologists have a look at it, but they've got no
clue either.

Does this type of feature sound familiar to anyone? Or, could someone give
me a list of what we should be looking for to prove or reject any of the
hypotheses?

I would be greatful for any information you have that might help us solve
our mystery.

Thank you for your time and consideration,
Tanya Laird


"All our science, our technology, our mathematics - nothing is unique about
them. These things will be repeated by any sufficiently advanced
civilization...But, there is only one golden death mask of Tutankhamen,
only
one Room of Lilies. It is through our art that we really live and breathe.
If I could pick only one thing that could survive on this earth and speak
for our species, it would be our art." -- an archaeologist

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