Dear All,
In 1979 / 80 a large government funded archaeological excavation took place at the Hyde Park Barracks in Sydney, Australia. During the process of the excavation over 85,000 artefacts were recovered from underground and underfloor deposits in and around the 1817-19 constructed convict Barracks.
In excess of 30,000 artefacts were recovered from sub-floor deposits found in the main three story Barracks building. Whilst many of the artefacts were small enough to have been dragged beneath the floorboards by the numerous rats known to have inhabited the Barracks buildings, some items, including the remains of two large government issued (stamped 'B O' for Board of Ordinance and marked with a broad arrow) shirts (1840s), leather shoes (also marked with 'B O' stamps), a leather bound bible (1830), complete cotton aprons, bonnets and bodices (from the Immigrant Women's Phase of occupation 1848 - 1886) and complete bottles and smoking pipes were also found.
Documentary evidence from the convict phase of occupation (1819 - 1848) indicates that there was illicit trading activities occurring at the Barracks in the supply and consumption of alcohol, tobacco, food and clothing.
No doubt some of the larger artefacts recovered from the underfloor deposits at the Barracks are evidence of this activity.
Similar prohibitions on the consumption of alcohol at any time and smoking after-hours were enforced during the Immigrant Women's (1848 - 1886) and Female Infirm and Destitute Asylum (1862-1886) phases and it is highly likely that some of the inmates stashed their illicit smoking implements and alcohol containers under the floorboards of the main building to thwart theft by other inmates or by confiscation by overseers, wardens or superintendents.
Robert Varnam, Wendy Thorpe, Andrew Wilson or Peter Tonkin, who sometimes post to this list, can no doubt provide additional information on the archaeology of the underfloor deposits at the Barracks.
Regards
Kieran
Kieran Hosty
Curator
Hyde Park Barracks
Queens Square
Macquarie Street
Sydney, Australia, 2000
Ph: +61 2 8239 2311
Fax: +61 2 8239 2322
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
<http://www.hht.net.au>
-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of James
Gibb
Sent: Friday, 15 October 2004 11:53 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: sub-floor deposits
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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