I'm excavating a great little pair of early nineteenth century buildings on a
Louisiana sugar plantation and could use input for interpreting the
architecture.  I've got most of it figured out - they're poteaux sur sole
(post on sill) construction (directly on the ground), and one of them has a
poteaux en terre (post in ground) interior partition.  They had plank floors,
one has a central fireplace, they seem to have had bousillage (daub) fill in
the interior of the outside walls, etc. .One is likely a kitchen for the
plantation main house a short distance away, and the other was very likely to
have been housing for household servants, based on the types of materials
recovered.
 
It all makes sense except for the cypress posts that flank the sill
impressions, placed directly next to the sill itself.  Some are on the
interior and some are on the exterior, on approximately 3 ft. centers.  They
don't seem to correspond to any necessary structural  members, and they're
too deep and substantial to have been temporary posts for any construction
purposes.  The best guess I can make at the moment is that they may have been
placed to stabilize the sill, since it was placed directly on the ground,
rather than in a trench.  The only site I can find with comparable
architecture is Old Mobile, and there is no indication there of any similar
posts.  Anyone run across anything like this or have any suggestions about
where to look for comparative material?
 
Ann Markell
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