Hi Susan,
Coober Pedy, SA, I would have thought would have been an obvious comparative
choice for dugouts (underground houses)even though these are more recent
(1920's on). Many different nationality's of people have lived in Coober
Pedy, though I'm not sure this came through in the design, rather it is
usually more related to the resources the owners had.  For example if a
parcel of land (on a hill where a dugout could be excavated)was owned by
someone with a reasonable amount of money tunneling machines were used to
expand into the hill adding extra rooms and the walls could be lined with
panelling to simulate an above ground house, some even have inground
swimming pools inside. There are also semi-dugouts which have some rooms
above ground but usually the bedrooms and pantrys were underground. However,
if you were poor a pick and shovel could be used just as effectively to
extend your house.  I lived in a semi-dugout for the first 14 years of my
life and when my parents first purchased the land in the 1960s it was
literally a one room hand dug residence, by the time I left it had four
underground bedrooms and pantry and two large above ground sections each had
been extended and added when my parents had big mining finds.

Dugouts in Coober Pedy are the preferred accomodation because of the
regulated temperature (around 22-24 degrees C) they provide in often
excessively hot or cold (at night) climates, I suspect this is the same
reason they would have been preferred for your study site.

I did put up a posting a few weeks ago in response to the pebble houses in
which I described a dugout of a (I think) German migrant, Crocadile Harry.

Hope this helps somewhat.
Lucy Amorosi
Cultural Heritage Group

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-----Original Message-----
From: Susan Piddock [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, 14 September 2001 3:24
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Dug-out houses


Hi Everybody
           I am looking for some comparative information, studies etc for a
fellow student who is doing his Ph.D on dug out houses. In South Australia
we have a copper mining town that was set up by a mining company in the
mid-19thC. The town included worker's accommodation, but several hundred
miners rejected this accommodation and constructed dug-out houses in the
side of a steep creek. These were often quite large, one known being of
eight rooms. The miners were primarily Cornish, but other nationalities
were present and the excavated material from the dug-outs has given us no
information about the ethinicity of the occupants. Does anyone know of any
similar dug-out houses anywhere? We are particularly interested in academic
or archaeological studies, but any information welcome.
                              cheers
                                Susan
Susan Piddock
Archaeology Office
School of Humanities
Flinders University of South Australia
GPO Box 2100
Adelaide 5001
South Australia

Fax number  -  + 61 8 8 201 3845
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