The wells of Spanish Florida: Using taphonomy to identify site history

20 Pages·1994·11.6 MB·English

by  Elizabeth J Reitz

Ethnobiol
14(2):141-160
Winter 1994
/.
THE WELLS OF
SPANISH
FLORIDA:
TAFHONOMY
USING TO
IDENTIFY HISTORY
SITE
ELIZABETH
REITZ
J.
Museum
Natural History
of
University Georgia
of
GA
Athens, 30602-1882
—
ABSTRACT.
Wells from Spanish Florida provide a wealth of information about
subsistence in the colony. Archaeologists working with materials from the Spanish
colony argue that these wells were quickly possible, however, that they
filled It is
were filled slowly Wells left open after being abandoned, like natural pitfall traps,
should accumulate the remains of animals such as rodents, snakes, and frogs, which
become abandoned
entrapped such Wells quickly once should
in features. filled
contain few of these animals. While two Spanish wells have been found that did
function as natural traps, most of the wells of Augustine and Santa Elena do not
St.
appear have been open and unused long enough serve as natural
to to traps.
—
RESUMEN.
Los pozos de La Florida espanola son una rica fuente de informa-
cion acerca de la subsistencia en la colonia. Los arqueologos que han trabajado
con los materiales de colonia espanola aseveran que estos pozos fueron llenados
la
rapidamente. Es posible, sin embargo, que se hayan llenado lentamente. Los
como
pozos que permanecieron abiertos despues de ser abandonados, las trampas
como
naturales, debieron acumular los restos de animales tales roedores^ viboras y
ranas que son atrapados en esos Los pozos que se llenaron rapidamente
sitios.
despues de abandonados debieran contener pocos de estos animales. Si bien se
ser
como
han encontrado dos pozos espanoles que funcionaron trampas naturales, la
si
mayoria de pozos de San Augustin Santa Elena no parecen haber permanecido
y
los
como
abiertos y sin uso por suficiente tiempo para servir trampas naturales.
RESUME
une
du
cernant subsistance au temps de la colonie. Les archaeologues traitant
la
que
materiel archaeologique de colonie espagnole maintiennent ces puits se
la
sont remplis rapidement. Toutes est possible qu'ils se soient remplis lente-
fois,
il
ment. Les ayant abandonnes ouverts et formant des trappes naturelles,
puits, ete
d'animaux, que rongeurs, serpents, gre-
devraient accumuler des restes tels et
nouilles qui se trouvent pieges dans ces trappes. Les puits qui se remplissent
Deux
peu de animaux.
rapidement une abandonnes devraient conlenir ces
fois
puits provenant de La Florida espagnole ont, en effect, joue le role de trappes
Mais plus part des puits de St Augustine et Santa Elena ne semblent
naturelles.
la
longtemps pour de
pas etre demeures ouverts et inutilises assez avoir servi
naturelles
INTRODUCTION
Wells from Spanish Florida provide a wealth of information about subsistence
and human/animal the colony
other aspects of interactions in (Reitz 1991, 1992;
REITZ No. 2
Vol.
14,
142
working
and Cumbaa Reitz and Scarry 1985). Archaeologists in St.
Reitz 1983;
1565-
Augustine argue that wells associated with the First Spanish Period, A,D.
no were used
with once they longer for
were quickly trash
relatively
1763, filled
water (Deagan that was the case, the contents of wells represent short-
1983:57).
If
lived behavior and provide tightly focused, closed-context, glimpses into the life
of a household at a specific point in time. Such closed-context deposits are useful
how-
economic and networks. possible,
in discussions of the colonies' social It is
would be
abandoned wells slowly. In that case their contents
ever, that filled
moment and valuable as
representative of no particular household or in time, less
and economic important,
sources of information about social interactions. It is
do
and which ones
which
determine wells represent closed-contexts
therefore, to
and
same dilemma working other locations
This confronts archaeologists in
not.
time
periods.
and problem can be
Observations of natural artifical pitfall traps suggest this
from mouse, wells are
resolved using faunal remains since, the perspective of a
dug by humans.
Wells
hazards similar to bell-shaped pits or other features filled
common
quickly would be expected to have few characteristics in with pitfall
while wells open would have many of the same faunal remains as
traps
left
where
natural pits. Testing this hypothesis is best accomplished the historical
events associated with each pit (well) are known; however, once is established
it
that faunal assemblages from traps do have a characteristic signature, such pat-
may whose
terns distinguish rapidly filled pits from pits filled slowly at sites
known.
histories are not
Open may
numbers animals such as
wells, like natural traps, contain large of
insectivores, small rodents, snakes, frogs, and toads. Such animals accumulate in
what are essentially deep holes, as long as these were too deep or steep-sided for
escape (Whyte 1988). Wells filled quickly might have few of these animals since
would them become and
there be a shorter period of time for to trapped easier
access through the accumulating debris to the surface and escape. Presumably a
number
large of entrapped animals would preclude use of a well for drinking
new
water, providing a motive to either clean the well or dig a one.
Using the identity of vertebrates found in two patterns are seen.
well-fill,
Some
and
Spanish were probably
wells in Florida apparently natural traps filled
slowly. Most of the wells of Augustine and Santa Elena do not contain quan-
St,
tities of animals considered likely members of a natural trap death-assemblage
Two
and when
were probably quickly they no longer were used for water.
filled
moments
wells identified as natural traps were both associated with unique in the
history of the colony
SPANISH FLORIDA HISTORY
Spanish Florida was founded in 1565 by Pedro Menendez de Aviles, marking
North
the beginning of the First Spanish Period. Originally Spain claimed all of
America south of Newfoundland and west of the Atlantic Ocean indefinitely
(Gannon was
1967:1); however, the actual occupation a strip along the Atlantic
coast between Santa Elena and Augustine and westward Apalachee Pro-
to
St.
Menendez
vince founded two towns, Augustine and Santa Elena.
(Fig.
1), St.
JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY
Winter 1994
143
lOOKILOMETERS
50
=1
<«.
—
Map
Augustine
showing
FIG. location of
St.
1.
Charleston.
was
and
was few months Augustine the capital
Santa Elena established a after St.
when was abandoned and Augustine became
of Spanish Florida until 1587, St.
it
the Throughout the sixteenth century natural disasters
capital of the province.
human imported
and by contributed the unreliabiity of
attacks a variety of foes to
was
and 1570 an subsidy established
staples, munitions, other supplies. In official
to remedy the problem, but did not do so (Lyon 1977; Sluiter 1985). Disease also
it
correspondence
hampered develop an export economy. the official
efforts to If is
and
be Augustinians had very to eat sub-
to believed, sixteenth-century little
St.
Conner
on scum and vermin (Bushnell 1925:99).
sisted 1981:11;
century Floridians continued to experience disease, natural
In the seventeenth
and
and Epidemics yellow fever or typhus, smallpox, measles
disasters, war. of
and
devastated Europeans, Africans, native Floridians (Bushnell 1978; 1981:13).
Buccaneers mission chain along the Atlantic coast as well as outposts
attacked the
Hann
Wars
(Bushnell
in the interior of peninsular Florida 1978, 1981:12; 1986:175).
REITZ No. 2
144 Vol. 14,
made
between and England Caribbean
throughout the century Spain, France,
was
waters generally unsafe for external trade (Bushnell 1981:12); the subsidy
many
many
often years overdue. For this reason indigenous local sources of food
by
continued be used
to Floridians.
all
The eighteenth century was also a time of turmoil for Spanish Florida (TePaske
and by and
1964). British raids destroyed outlying missions cattle ranches 1704,
was and These gradual
Augustine beseiged in 1728 1740. raids reflected the
St.
down
South
advance of English settlements the Atlantic seaboard. Charleston,
Carolina, was founded in 1670 and Savannah, Georgia, in 1733. In spite of hostili-
with was (Harman As the previous
trade British colonies routine 1969). in
ties,
centuries, reports of hardship were frequent. For example, after the subsidy ship
was captured in 1712, Governor Don Francisco de Corcoles y Martinez reported
townspeople and Martinez TePaske
ate dogs, cats, horses (Corcoles y 1712;
1964:83).
when
The Spanish Period ended 1763 Spain ceded what remained of
First in
and
Spanish Florida to England. Virtually the entire European, African, mis-
what
sionized Indian populations evacuated the colony from 1763 to 1783, during
known
as the British Period (Dunkel The Second Spanish Period began
1958).
is
when when
Spain regained peninsular Florida 1783 and ended Spain ceded the
in
United America
territory to the States of in 1821.
AND
METHODS
MATERIALS
by amount from
This analysis facilitated the large of faunal data available
is
As
Spanish an sample
Florida. indication of the size involved, 2,602 vertebrate
individuals were estimated sample bone fragments from
in a total of 106,570 First
and
Spanish Period Augustine and Santa Elena Reitz
St. contexts (Reitz 1992;
Cumbaa
1983; Reitz and Scarrv 1985^ Tn brief the faunal evidenre for Soanish
some
and domestic
limited to white-tailed deer, use of
little
animals
Cumbaa
here are available elsewhere (Reitz 1990, 1991, 1992; Reitz and 1983; Re
and Wood
Scarry 1985; and Reitz 1986). The faunal remains from Spanish Flori
have been
using
all identified either the comparative skeletal collections at
i
Museum Museum
Florida of Natural Historv or the Universitv of Georeia
The
an
extensive
61) for
nomenclature
methods
Cumbaa
Wood
however, is important to note that faunal remains recovered from
it
from
Most
of the 200 taxa were
identified in wells
The
only exceptions bones
are single identified as great egret (Casmerodius albusX
ruddy duck hawk and
{Oxyura broad-winged
jamaicensisX {Buteo pktypterus),
largemouth bass {Micropterus salmoides); as well as two fish bones identified as
erunt (Haemulidae), which were found
of onlv
all in wells.
JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY
Winter 1994
145
COMMENSAL
TAXA
IN SPANISH FLORIDA
To determine whether the wells of Spanish Florida quickly or slowly^
filled
those animals that are considered characteristic of natural traps must be
pitfall
defined. The animals likely to be victims of natural traps were classified as com-
mensal taxa during analysis of Spanish Florida faunal assemblages. Commensal
human
taxa are those animals found frequently in association with residences,
perhaps through no active intention of humans (Reitz and Scarry 1985:42). Moles,
and commensal
mice, rats, voles, lizards, frogs, toads are considered animals.
A
These small animals might turn owls, snakes, and other predators.
in attract
special category of commensal fauna are pets and working animals. Pets, includ-
ing dogs and and working animals, such as mules, horses, and oxen, might
cats,
be present at sites and incorporated into the archaeological record by accident or
through burial not associated with consumption. Large working animals are
by but dogs and might do
unlikely to into wells accident, cats so.
fall
commensal had
While has functional
the classification of certain taxa as
utility over the course of the Spanish Florida project, classification of species as
Most
commensal rather than as food sources has never been taken for granted. of
consumed
the "commensal" animals might also be either routinely or at least
occasionally (Stahl 1982; Szuter 1988). Individual animals of taxa that generally
become
were consumed, such opossums or raccoons, might also entrapped,
as
which
commensal. Determining
but these animals have not been classified as
and
assemblages through subsistence other cul-
species are included in faunal
tural behaviors important because Spaniards at various times claimed that the
is
what
Spaniard
poverty of the colony forced them to eat vermin. It is not clear a
may
have been
might consider vermin because a wide range of species that
Any
Europeans were consumed frequently in Spanish Florida. or all
unfamiliar
to
vermin by homesick
inedible
of these might have been considered disgusting,
Our normal (ethnocentric) categories
Spaniards either as a group or individually
what commensal because Spaniards clearly claimed to
of might be are irrelevant
commen-
been
consume some which might have ordinarily
undesirable foods, of
town and surroundings.
the
sal to
its
were "vermin" and testing the accuracy of the
which animals
Identifying
among zooarchaeological research for
commensal the goals of
are
classification
common
Spanish deposits that
group animals in
Spanish of
there a
Florida.
Is
found
which 200 vertebrate taxa in First
were consumed, and of the
not
so,
if
commensal than food
been rather
might have truly
Spanish Period
collections
commensal during analysis? Did Spaniards really face
items wrongly as
classified
famines during which they ate vermin, and if they did, what did they think of as
defmed
commensal here
taxa as
vermin? These are not minor questions since
mdividuals
vertebrate
5% Augustine sixteenth-century
have comprised
of the
St.
4%
(MNI=1,126), 5% of the Santa Elena vertebrate individuals (MNI=558), of the
5%
and
(MNI=166), of the eighteenth-
individuals
seventeenth-century vertebrate
aUhough
dietary contribution,
(MNI=722), their
century individuals if
vertebrate
Cumbaa
and
and Reitz
any must have been small (Reitz 1992; Reitz 1983:175;
Scarry
1985:66).
such
examine characteristics as articulated
zooarchaeologists
Traditionally
REITZ No. 2
Vol.
14,
146
from
bones
modifications to resulting
com
Unfortunately, none of the standard
the depositional origin of different species.
techniques used distinguish between food and nonfood animals have consis-
to
delineated food from nonfood uses of either vertebrates or invertebrates in
tently
"commensal" and "noncom-
Spanish This suggests that the categories
Florida.
// food" and "nonfood" animals
mensal
com
commensal
their status in the colonial diet unclear. Further research is needed to resolve the
is
consumed
question of whether the animals classified as "commensal" here were
or not
frequently, occasionally, at
all.
may
formation
Augustine since the 1970s (Deagan 1983:14), but zooarchaeology has contributed
between
in this area largely because of the difficulty of distinguishing to
little
and nonfood refuse. However, there seems to be a characteristic accumulation
commensal taxa that indicates when a well was open for enough time to ser
left
Accumulations
as a natural trap. Wells filled quickly lack these characteristics.
commensal purposes study be used
taxa classified as for of this (Table 1) will
markers for natural traps without addressing the question of whether the spec
made
were eaten, although the assumption that they were not, at least in th(
is
contexts.
NATURAL
TRAPS
The on voluminous Gibbons and Semhtsch
natural
literature traps
is (e.g..
Guilday Hudson and Semken and Falk
Hirschfeld
1981; et 1969; 1968; Solf 1959;
al.
White and summarized demonstrate
be here only
1991; et 1984) will briefly to
al.
many
that Spanish Florida wells meet of the physical characteristics of natural
traps and that the types of fauna found in traps with small openings can be
anticipated with a good degree of accuracy. The point does not need to be bela-
m
bored because most with x squares
archaeologists are familiar the success of
1
1
common
in capturing small animals. traps of various designs are also a
Pitfall
biological approach to capturing small animals in the field.
work
In experimental designed to replicate site formation processes at archae-
Whyte
ological sites, (1988) found that small vertebrates tend to be caught in deep,
steep-sided pit features that remain uncovered while slowly filling with debris.
common
Whyte's baited traps were designed to replicate archaeological features
and cm cm
were 75 in diameter the surface and 75 deep. These pits attracted
at
newts, narrow-mouthed green
leopard
toads, treefrogs, pickerel frogs, frogs,
frogs, bullfrogs, stinkpots, painted yellow-bellied snapping tur-
turtles, turtles,
queen wood house
snakes, black kingsnake, a duck, opossum, shrews,
tles, a
mice, white-footed mice, pine muskrats, and The species captured
voles, rabbits.
and
surround-
their relative proportions in each pit varied with season, weather,
When
and and
ing vegetation, data from seasons all
bait, pit characteristics.
all all
pit types are combined, amphibians comprised 29% of the 267 vertebrate Individ-
JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY
Winter 1994
147
—
TABLE
L found and commensal
^Taxa in wells considered potentially for
purposes
of study.
this
Name Common Name
Scientific
mole
Scalopus aquaticus Eastern
UID
Rodent
New
and Old World mice and
Cricetidae/Muridae
rats
Sigmodon Hispid cotton
hispidus rat
Microtus pinetorum Pine vole
Old World
Rattus spp. rat
Norway
Rattus norvegicus rat
Roof
Rattus rat
rattus
Dog
Cams
familiaris
Cat
domesticus
Felis
UID
Snake
Non-poisonous snakes
Colubridae
vipers
Viperidae Pit
Rattlesnake
Crotalus / Sistrurus spp.
Anura; Frog/Toad
Rana/Bufo
spp.
Frog
Rana
spp.
Toad
Bufo spp.
Southern toad
Bufo
terrestris
mammals 34% (Whyte Mice
1988:40).
(Whyt
some
from
pits
Whyte entrapped animals
reports that
(Whyte
more be found the lower levels of natural traps 1988:80, 82).
are likely to in
A
made by Whyte that entrapped animals are
(1988:139)
further observation is
by
surrounded vegetation or debris, a fact
more
abundant experimental
pits
in
abandonment.
that might be used as an indication of site
and
duck, rabbits, of
With opossums, muskrat, turtles, all
the exception of the
commensal
would be as taxa in
Whyte's classified
the animals captured in pits
surprise since
Turtles are a particular
Spanish archaeofaunal collections.
Florida
and
commensal had been considered rejected
might be
the
possibility that turtles
entrapped
However, Whyte notes that 79 of the 95
Spanish
for Florida collections.
(Whyte
than adults 1988:45).
were young, newly hatched individuals rather
turtles
and
both snakes
Many were young, including
captured also
animals
of the other
some
found that adults of
wood Gibbons and Semlitsch (1981) also
the duck.
may
be captured traps.
species not in pitfall
A was made by Armitage and West (1985) in a study of
similar interpretation
They
London.
Greyfriars in
garden well of the
from medieval
materials
a late
mammals and amphibians well
in this
found 92% commensal small
that of the
and West While not using
(Armitage 1985:123).
were subadults
either juveniles or
was abandoned but open, they did interpret these
this as evidence that the well
with nearby orchards rather than
garden fauna associated
animals as evidence of
garden fauna
high percentage of the
They observed that a
subsistence items. also
REITZ No. 2
Vol.
14,
148
new
Some may
wary hazards such as
of wells.
animals
and amphibians contributed 37% of the bone fragments reported from the
cats,
Greyfriars well.
when
fauna
Carnivores and large herbivores are rarely part of a natural trap
by White and (White aL
opening although study colleagues et 1984)
the small, a
is
good example
of two caves formed in a lava field in Idaho provides a of a
which can become entrapped. Both caves contained a high
carnivores
situation in
were
incidence of rodents, rabbits, and carnivores, suggesting that the carnivores
by and mto and themselves
attracted the small rodents rabbits that fell the caves,
became entrapped once they jumped through the cave entrances. This study also
most
and were
animals, verv old adults, the individuals
become
TWO
FROM WELLS/NATURAL TRAPS
OF DATA
DESCRIPTION
by
Examining the Spanish Florida well data might be facilitated looking first
from probably were natural from Lesesne Plantation
materials wells that traps,
at
Augustine
and Nassau While from
70 Charleston. neither of these wells
Street, is St.
or Santa Elena, they do within the original sixteenth-century boundaries of
fall
Spanish Florida. Characteristics of these wells and their faunal assemblages are
An when
presented in Table important characteristic of wells that the well is
2. is
bottom an anaerobic
with water, debris accumulates the of the well in
filled at
zone, and preservation therefore enhanced. Hence noting the relationship of
is
commensal bottom and water important for
taxa to the well the current table
is
taphonomic
reconstructing the history of the deposit.
One
of the "natural trap" wells from the Lesesne Plantation, just north of
is
Charleston, South Carolina (Wood and Reitz 1986; Zierden et 1986). The Les-
al.
esne Plantation well was brick-lined and about a meter in diameter at the surface
(Zierden et 1986:4-44). The well was built in 1800 and abandoned in 1860,
al.
although materials probably accumulated during the midnineteenth century.
m
was was dug
Standing water found at 2.6 (Level although the well to
28),
cm
culturally sterile soil at 3.3 m. The well was excavated in 20 increments from
cm
cm
Levels 1-9 and in 10 levels from Levels 10-28. Level 29 was the bottom 30
slump
of the well. Levels 1-18 contained materials associated with the of the
and
plowzone; Levels 19-27 accumulated during the period of abandonment;
28-29 was Level
Levels contained items probably while the well active.
lost
still
29 was of organic debris, including what was probably the water bucket. The
full
meshed
studied materials were recovered using a 1/4-inch screen.
While was
the location of the Lesesne well rural, the second "natural trap''
well is urban, from Charleston, South Carolina (Reitz 1990; Table 2). This brick-
was home
found Nassau African-American
lined well at 70 Street, the of a free
household. Although the well may have been dug in the 1840s, contents appear
its
to date to the early twentieth century. The well was enclosed by a house sometime
was
after that, but remained open, with water perhaps accessed via a pipe. It
it
excavated as a single unit, and hence there are no levels. The well was 10 ft deep.
JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY
Winter 1994
149
—
TABLE
Description
2. of wells.
Weight,
gm MNI
Feature Century Taxa^ NISP Screen Comments
Site^
Natural Traps
Lesesne 106 19th 13 1071 80.07 52 1/4" to sterile
70 Nassau 19th/20th 8 2215 913.72 48 1/4" to sterile
1
Sixteenth-century Spanish Period, St Augustine
First
SA
1/4"
26-1 21 16th 30 4295 1128.80 75 to sterile
SA 1/4" water
26-1 62 16th 29 1232 1419.97 75 to level
SA 34-1 1977 16th 5 34 262.50 5 1/4" to sterile;
incomplete
SA 1/4"
34-1 24 16th 19 470 500.10 38 to sterile
SA 30
34-1 26 16th 19 1036 506.74 1 /4",ss to sterile
SA 34-2 44 16th 13 291 2703 14 1/4" not completely
1
excavated
SA 36-4 5 16th 21 1387 1183.52 72 1/4" to sterile
SA 1/8"
36-4 586 1296.10 9 to sterile
16 16th 8
FOY 1/16"
9 16th 18 881 43.69 32 to sterile
Sixteenth-century Spanish Period, Santa Elena
First
24 2506 840.69 40 1/8" to sterile
Elena 146 16th
Sta.
1/8"
25 1640 544.25 32 to sterile
Elena 172 16th
Sta.
1/8"
2 to sterile
Elena 217 16th 2 21 17.45
Sta.
Spanish Period
Seventeenth-century
First
1/4" not completely
SA 12 1559 1320.95 21
34-2 47 17th
excavated
Spanish Period
Eighteenth-century
First
1/4"
SA7-6 12 1149 2771.20 22 to sterile
18th
14
1/4" not completely
SA 136 161.43 11
34-2 Area 13/17 18th 11
excavated
SA 20 1480 1715.95 41 1/4 to sterile
36-4 11/12/13 18th
St
Later Augustine Wells
1/4" not completely
10
SA 200 871.85
10
34-2 26 British
excavated
1/4"
SA 1210 254759 22 to sterile
34-2 2nd Span. 14
41
FOY Youth Park
refers to the Fountain of site.
' Augustine are designed by the prefix "SA".
St. sites
MNI
Number was
which estimated.
2
of taxa for
REITZ No.
Vol. 2
150 14,
The was dark above
with water encountered in the lower 3 last 0.5 sterile
ft.^ ft fill
sand. Only faunal materials from this dark at the bottom of the well were
fill
meshed
studied. The materials were recovered using 1/4-inch screen.
and show Number Specimens (NISP) and Mini-
Tables 3 4 the of Identified
mum
Numbers (MNI) and Nassau
of Individuals for the Lesesne 70 Street wells.
An
The animals both wells are overwhelmingly conunensal taxa. exception
in
was made commensal
to the general classificatory rule for taxa in the case of
rabbits identified in the Lesesne well. Normally rabbits (Sylvilagus spp.) are not
commensal were very
classified as animals, however, the skeletons in these wells
High minimal postmortem
complete. degrees of skeletal completeness indicate
disturbance, suggesting these individuals were commensal. In the Lesesne well
MNI
98% of the NISP and 94% of the were commensal taxa. In the 70 Nassau
MNI
95% NISP and 88% were commensal The
Street well of the of the taxa.
general lack of bones from animals that would normally have been consumed,
such and food remains were thrown,
as cattle chickens, indicates that rarely fell,
was
pushed Nassau
dragged, or into these wells. Since the 70 Street well exca-
we commensal
vated as a single unit, cannot examine the levels in which these
commensal
taxa were recovered. However, in the Lesesne well but two of the
all
bones were recovered from Levels 20 through 23, the levels just above the water
Une
(Table
5),
some
Both of these deposits clearly appear to be natural traps, with additional
refuse included in the case of the 70 Nassau Street well. should be noted that the
It
high Nassau Armitage
incidence of adult rats in the 70 Street well lead Philip
communication, was
(personal 1991) to suggest that this well not a natural trap.
He
was when became
reasoned that because the well under a house these rodents
must
have
entered the well
campaign
poison
encoi
rat
?
water
in
It is also important to note that a 1/4-inch mesh was used to recover materials
from both some
deposits. In the presentation that follows, of the well deposits
were also seived through 1/4-inch mesh, which one might expect bias against
to
recovery of small animal remains. These two cases indicate that a deposit did
if
serve as a natural trap, use of 1/4-inch mesh will not necessarily disguise that
Presumably numbers
function. a smaller-meshed screen had been used, the of
if
commensal would
have ^n
taxa inrrpp^spd to hio-hpr nprrpnfp^crp nf the total
(>\/f^r\
sam
THE WELLS OF
AUGUSTINE
ST.
common
Wells are in Augustine (Deagan They were
St. 1981; 1983:57, 111).
by wooden
constructed digging a large well construction pit into which a stack of
A
was
form
barrels placed to a well roughly a meter in diameter (Fig. typical
2).
m
well included one two below ground
a stack of or barrels extending about 4
m
m
and
level 2 below the water table. Wells are routinely found 12 to 15 from the
street edge toward the back of each lot (Deagan 1983:247). Frequently a number of
well construction pits, wells, and false starts are located within a few meters of
When
each other, sometimes overlappine one another. archaeologists excavate a