  Eight refuse pits were identified during the course of excavation. The shapes varied from circular to oblong with considerable range in depth. In most instances, however, the bottoms were flat, or nearly so. The five examples of pits with a circular outline ranged from 1.2 feet to 3 feet in diameter and from 1 to 1.5 feet in depth. The three oblong pits ranged from 2.5 to 3.8 feet wide, from 4 to 5 feet long, and from 1.8 to 2.7 feet in depth. Two of the refuse pits were associated with houses—one with House 1 and the other with House 3. These will be described as associations with these houses. Feature 13, a refuse pit, was unusual in that it contained a number of broken vessels, bone awls, a drilled pottery disk and a considerable amount of animal bone and potsherds. The vessels were all jars ranging in size from small to large and were wide mouthed vessels. Most of these jars had strap handles while the two largest were decorated with crude incising on the shoulders and by a series of nodes punched from the inside, below that. A large broken vessel in one of the pits is shown in Figure 29. Figure 28. Shell Ornaments and Tools Little more can be said of these pits except that they represent a method of disposal of refuse but certainly not the standard approach to this problem. Ash PitsThere were a number of ash dumps which were always associated with fireplaces. They were present in all three of the houses excavated. One outstanding characteristic is the completeness of combustion represented by the ashes. In no instance were small charred pieces of wood found with the ash, a thing to be expected unless the fire burned under forced draft or was carefully tended. While the ash in the dumps could have been selectively collected so that only the completely burned ash was thrown out, the same would not be true of the ash found in every fireplace excavated. It is suggested that this result would be normal only if low flame charcoal fires were used and these nursed to produce the desired heat, with red hot coals being buried in the ash to slow down their combustion until such time as it was desired to rekindle a hotter fire. A further consideration would be that only this type of fire would be relatively safe inside a grass thatched house. House 1 had three ash dumps, two of which were inside the house and in close contact with the firebasin, and one outside the house. These dumps tended to be rounded and about two feet in diameter. In depth they ranged from .6 foot in the center but tapered away to nothing at the outer edges. The single ash dump associated with house 3 was similar in all respects. FirebasinsThe firebasins at Lawhorn are quite definite and well formed of puddled clay and are good examples of those so common to Mississippian sites of the area. Rebuilding was common, with new construction leaving the remains of some portion of the old basin to one side. Often this was a half-moon shaped affair that may have continued in use. In all instances these basins were filled with a white wood ash which showed complete combustion so that there were no bits of unburned charcoal left in the ash. It may be that this bed of ash was maintained in basins at all times and was used to bury hot coals to hold the fire during periods of non-use. There were numerous specimens found near the fire basins which added to the impression of domestic hearth sites associated with whatever house forms these people had. The most notable trait was the presence of stone mortars and pestles near many of the basins. Drilled pottery disks were also commonly found nearby. Bone awls were found on one occasion. House 1 had a fire basin two feet in diameter and without a raised rim section. It was half filled with white to reddish wood ash without any partially burned charred material left in it. The fire area in House 3 was not a puddled basin but rather a flat area on the floor where continued fire building had hardened the ground underneath. The House 2 basin was puddled but poorly made. In two of these fireplaces small broken bowls were found half buried in the ash. Another burned area was found in square 17R13 which also showed use as a hearth site. Nearby was a circular refuse pit almost flat on the bottom. Here, carbonized nut hulls were found. Figure 29. A Large Broken Pottery Jar in a Refuse Area In no instance were postmold patterns found in association with the firebasins at this site nor, for that matter, were any found in the entire excavation that could be thought of as forming a pattern. Feature 12 was a puddled clay fire basin with a rim section .1 foot above the surrounding floor. The basin was circular in shape with a diameter of 1.3 feet and a depth of .3 foot. It had been dug into subsoil and so was associated with the early levels of the site. To one side were two possible postmolds while nearby was a mortar and several crude pestles. Two bone awls and a drilled pottery disk were found close to the basin. Feature 14 was a similar fire basin but it was in poor condition. It was found just above the subsoil in the square just west of feature 12 and became the center point of an extended trench excavation in an unsuccessful search for a postmold wall pattern. The basin was filled with a white wood ash. Two shell tempered sherds were found in this ash. Feature 18, a firebasin, (Fig. 30) also built on subsoil, was of puddled clay filled completely with wood ash. This ash did not contain any specimen. There was a burned clay floor .1 foot below the rim of the firebasin but this was not very extensive and in all probability only surrounded the firebasin area. Once again, an extended trench excavation was undertaken in a search for postmolds. The subsoil was a light colored sand and such disturbances as tree roots and pits were very clear. Indeed many of these tree roots were cross sectioned in an attempt to locate postmolds. No postmolds of any description were found. Feature 5 was a large fired area with a heap of ashes extending beyond the burned clay. The area was circular with a diameter of 1.6 feet and burned to a depth of .3 foot. Associated with this area was a charred nut, either hickory or walnut, and a thin flat stone which had been subjected to intense heat. Feature 24 was very similar to feature 18 in that it, too, had been rebuilt and enlarged. The rebuilt basin was oval in shape being two feet long by 1.7 feet wide with an interior depth of .5 foot and a thickness of burned clay wall of .1 foot. The combined length of the basin was 3 feet with a half moon section of the original basin being all that remained of it. The original basin was about 1.6 feet in diameter. Both sections were filled with wood ash and apparently continued in use. Feature 25 was the remaining half of a puddled clay fire basin under house 1. Whether the basin was circular or oval could not be determined due to an ash pit that had been cut through it. The basin was 1.6 feet in diameter with an interior depth of .6 foot and a clay wall thickness of .1 foot. The pit was filled with white wood ash and a few shell tempered sherds. Figure 30. Feature 18, a Firebasin of Unusual Shape |
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