Some "deposits" like Dan W. describes appear at close inspection to consist
of items like corn cobs etc. that rats have dragged into chimney cavities,
subfloor areas, etc., to gnaw on--we found lots of such items beneath the
floor boards and in chimney cavities at the Spencer-Peirce-Little House in
Newbury, MA, almost all with rodent tooth marks on them (items included
shoe leather, corn cobs, bone-handled cutlery, pipestems, etc.)  I don't
know whether rats chew on glass but I have the feeling they'll drag just
about anything into their hidey-holes--we even found one a pair of girl's
black stockings (the kind you see them wearing in 19th-century photos) in
one of the many rodent burrows beneath the kitchen floor.  All this said, I
have also seen many examples of ritual protection of houses or parts of
houses, among them a shoe incorporated into an ell foundation at one of the
Lowell boardinghouses.

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Mary C. Beaudry, Associate Professor
Department of Archaeology
Boston University
675 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215

tel. 617-353-3415
fax. 617-353-6800
email [log in to unmask]

http://www.bu.edu/archaeology/www/faculty/beaudry/beaudry.html

Field School:
http://www.bu.edu/archaeology/www/faculty/beaudry/fs_heb.html

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