Ned Heite wrote:
 
> Farther to the north in Europe, traditional structures were frequently
> covered with turf, which would have spelled "lunch" for termites in the
> Chesapeake latitudes. Was the turf house also transferred? Is there
> archaeological evidence?
>
> We see references to "caves,"  probably turf houses, that were dug by early
> settlers for their first winter's housing. Were these "caves" another
> transplanted European housing type (turf houses) that would have been well
> known to the Swedes and Finns who first settled the hinterland along the
> Delaware?
 
Ned, I recently finished a report on a pithouse dwelling from ca 1640s in York
County. S s'pect it might have been roofed with turves, but who knows?
 
--
Dan Mouer
Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology
Virginia Commonwealth University
http://saturn.vcu.edu/~dmouer/homepage.htm