Jim Gibbster wrote::
>I can't imagine someone going through the trouble of digging a pit in a
>cellar to discard trash


I can - sorry Jim.  When I was a kid I used to vacation on a friends
well-preserved mid-19th century farm not far from Lake George.  At the end
of one summer's stay of several weeks my friend and I were given the chore
of disposing of the latest batch of kitchen garbage that Ma & Pa did not
want the animals getting into the garbage and they sent us off to bury it
... in a hole in the middle of the dirt-floored woodshed.  In digging the
hole we encountered at least two places (that I recall) where garbage from
a few years previous had been interred.

To look at that site from an archaeological perspective, should it have
been abandoned and rotted away (with useful items taken out of course) or
had it burned down (and metal and such recycled) then I would have to say I
would have a difficult time distinguishing the woodshed site from a
dwelling site - what with all the old furniture and dishes stored there,
bottles of all sorts and ages stuck in between the studs, old pots and pans
hanging in the rafters, and all but the kitchen sink up in the attic.

Throw in a few sub-floor refuse-filled pits and I would be even more
mightily confused.

         Dan W.