Greetings:

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.

The long sides have small projecting flues. On the south, these come
directly off the firebox as projections about 0.9 foot wide, extending
about 2 feet. There are six flues down the south side, about a foot
apart, and the same general depth as the firebox. On the north there
are traces of four flues of similar width, beginning at the eastern
end and stopping about 7 feet down the side. The northern flues are at
a slight obilique angle and do not connect to the firebox, with the
original connection presumably bladed away. The floor of the firebox
shows burn staining where these flues should have connected. Although
the eastern firebox does not have burn staining, the flues in that
area have been burned bright red with heat.

The first stratum throughout the feature is predictably wood ash and
the fill contains very few artifacts but includes sherds of
gothic-revival whiteware. There is no obvious waste material, and no
brick fragments. The site does have natural bog iron, and there were
several chunks inside the firebox, but all of our features have bog
iron. Whatever was being heated left behind no obvious remains, and we
haven't sent off the soil samples yet.

I am guessing there was a rectangular structure dug about 1.5 feet
into the ground, probably just enough to allow them to create the
flues down the sides. It was stoked from the western end, possibly
accelerated with a bellows, and because of the flues, the structure
could not be approached from the southern side or most of the northern
side. It could be approached from the eastern end and at the
northeastern corner, due to the lack of flues at that portion of the
northern side.

My first thought was a brick kiln, but there is no brick at all in the
feature or around it. I am now wondering if it is actually for
something like distilling or making molasses. My guess is that they
may have been using a two-stage process, the first at the western end
over the highest heat, then moving to a lower heat at the eastern end,
where it was also possible to get to the heated material and
manipulate it.

My apologies is this is something exceedingly obvious -- I'm still in
the field and haven't had a chance to go to the library. Any
suggestions and possible refs would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Taft Kiser