Ned Heite in his DelDOT report on Mitsawokett to Bloomsbury 2001 (DelDOT
Series 154) had a series of double basin shaped pits which he thought may
have been used in making soap (pp 178-184).  He did conduct soil chemistry
on these pits (page 180 shows the results).  Hunter Research also had
similar pits from The Cardon-Holton site (also a DelDOT project), but the
soil chemistry results are not in yet.  This site also had a smoke house
feature which was initially thought to be a soap making based feature based
on the greasy soil found in a shallow pit but other factors made it clear
that it was the location of a smoke house.  See the DelDOT web site for
reports and preliminary findings.   This is a great website which has
numerous well-funded FREE CRM reports with great data.

Cheers,

Bill Liebeknecht, RPA
Hunter Research, Inc.   

-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of adam
heinrich
Sent: Sunday, December 22, 2013 9:41 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Bones and soap

Dear HISTARCH,

My apologies for resending this.  I had forgotten to change the subject of
my previous email, which may cause it to go unnoticed.

I am trying to find any publications on soap making in the historic period,
particularly anything dealing with faunal remains.  From my understanding,
fats used in soap production would have been more likely to use subcutaneous
fats like lard. 
I am trying to address an anonymous claim that bones would have been boiled
for grease to make soap, but I am not familiar with such research.

Thanks to Bob Skiles for the incredible reference, and any more would be
appreciated.

Thanks, Adam Heinrich 		 	   		  =