I believe that Stanley South noted as a pattern the tendency of small items 
such as pins to fall through floor board cracks.
One thing that is of interest to me is the width of cracks through time- 
were all floors composed of boards tightly fitted together- was there a 
difference of crack size width-between ceremonal areas halls
living areas and kitchens for example. One would think that wider cracks 
between boards would be usefull in areas such as kitchen where one would 
like fluids to drain away etc....

Conrad

-----Original Message----- 
From: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Friday, May 11, 2012 4:12 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Sub floor deposits - dust & taphonomy

Hi Erin

Have you seen the book 'The Archaeology of Household Activities'? only there 
is an interesting chapter on the formation processes of house floor 
assemblages, which might help. Incidentally, my Honours project will be 
addressing underfloor deposits as well but from domestic contexts in Sydney.



Hayley
________________________________________
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Erin Mein 
[[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 11 May 2012 13:34
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Sub floor deposits - dust & taphonomy

Dear all

I am currently undertaking some research into deposits found underneath the 
floorboards of cells in Fremantle Prison, Western Australia.  From reading 
previous threads it seems that many people have retrieved artefacts from 
underfloor spaces and inside walls etc.  I am wondering if anyone has had a 
chance to look more closely at the actual depositional material or 'dust' 
itself?

At Fremantle Prison, I am particularly interested in the material found in 
the upper storey cells because of the high degree of preservation in this 
context.  We have retrieved a lot of really fragile material such as paper 
from newspapers, books, handrolled cigarettes etc that was not preserved in 
the subsurface deposits we excavated from a ground floor cell (for obvious 
reasons).   The deposit itself appears to be a mixture of material made up 
of human detritus such as hair and 'bumfluff' (for want of a more technical 
term!) as well as other organic material including fibres, insect larvae, 
rodent skeletons etc

Considering the history of the site it seems likely that the material was 
deposited there through a combination of concealment or rubbish disposal by 
prisoners and rodent activity.  Although distinguishing between the two 
processes seems problematic judging from previous discussions.

Beyond the work done at the Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney (Australia), I am 
having trouble finding any work on sub-floor deposits, in particular from 
the upper storeys of buildings.  If anyone could point me in the direction 
of any studies along these lines or has any comments on taphonomic processes 
in sub-floor contexts it would be much appreciated!

Regards,

Erin Mein
Honours Student
Department of Archaeology - University of Western Australia
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