Taft:
        Did you find a lot of oyster shells or bones in it, over the ashes??
        I recently saw several photos of an oyster, as well as a pig and or other
bovine barbeque of the 1920s and 1930s in which a pit exactly like you
describe is used - I don't recall the "flues", but should I come across
them again I'll look.
        Could also be for smoking/curing fish as I have seen photos of a similar
pit/tench, many feet long, on which fish were being dried on the back of
boards that were placed aboiut 5 feet from the fire.
        Dan W.
        Richmond


You wrote:
>I am excavating a domestic site in Gloucester County, Virginia, and
>have a ca. 1830-1870 feature which I hope someone on the list can
>identify. It is essentially a large, shallow firebox cut into natural
>clay, with a pattern of small flues down two sides.
>
>The main section is a rectangle, apparently a firebox, 11 feet
>long and 3.5 feet wide, with the narrow ends to the east and west.
>About a foot of topsoil has been removed, leaving the rectangle 0.4 of
>a foot deep. At the western end the natural clay is burned bright red
>over an area about 5 feet long, apparently the location of the stoke
>hole and the fire. East of this the bottom of the firebox is
>naturally-colored sterile clay, apparently the heat inside was not
>sufficient to affect this eastern area.
>
>...