Smoke,

From some of the responses I've been getting, I'm leaning towards Italian immigrant railroad workers as the possible source of the oven at the site.  To be able to assign a structure or artifact to a particular ethnic group is very interesting and something that is usually difficult to do.  Perhaps this case will prove to be the exception.
Thanks,


Kent

Smoke <[log in to unmask]> wrote: When I worked on the Kootenai Forest, we had them along the Northern
Pacific railroad.  Local had called them "Chinese Ovens" for years.
Research had showed them to be along many of the railroad lines in the
western states.  They are known in the northern Mediterranean from
Spain, France, Italy, the Balkans, and Greece.

If anyone wants so see what one looks like, the Early Arkansas
Reenactors Association has built one at the Historic Site of Cadron
Settlement along the Arkansas River.  This one was built with a base
since so many of us are "getting on in years" and it is easier than
bending over.  We use it a LOT.  Mostly for Pizza but for bread, pies
and cobbler, too.

http://www.arkie.net/%7Eeara/Building%20a%20Wood%20Fired%20Oven.html

Smoke.


On 7/19/06, Kent Taylor  wrote:
> In doing an archaeological survey in Wisconsin, one our crews came upon what
> they described as a railroad camp that included the ruins of a
> beehive-shaped stone cooking oven and a great deal of faunal material,
> especially bovine.  Has anyone else come across a similar situation? And how
> was it explained.  Thanks.
>
>
> Kent Taylor
>


-- 
Smoke Pfeiffer

Absence of Evidence is NOT Evidence of Absence



Kent C. Taylor, M.A., RPA 
Project Archaeologist 
Commonwealth Cultural Resources Group, Inc. 
Phone (248) 362-3038 
Fax (248) 362-3038 
E-Mail [log in to unmask]
 		
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