Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Two thousand years ago, the people living in Tucson built small, round houses. They dug shallow pits, most only two or three feet deep. Around the edges of these pits they used digging sticks to make small holes to place saplings in. They bent the saplings and tied their ends together, basically creating an upside-down basket. The outside was covered with bundles of grass and reeds and mud was plastered over this, creating a small house usually 10 to 12 feet in diameter.
We finished uncovering one of these houses today on our dig.
2,000-year-old pithouse.
On the floor were a scatter of artifacts including an unusual grinding stone and a shell bead, left behind when the house caught fire and burned.
If my house caught fire I'd grab the cats and my computer hard drive. If I had a few moments more I'd empty out my china cabinet, which is filled with family heirlooms, and grab three paintings in my living room. Most everything else could burn up. It is too bad some future archaeologist couldn't find my house- I wonder what they would think of my stuff?
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We finished uncovering one of these houses today on our dig.
2,000-year-old pithouse.
On the floor were a scatter of artifacts including an unusual grinding stone and a shell bead, left behind when the house caught fire and burned.
If my house caught fire I'd grab the cats and my computer hard drive. If I had a few moments more I'd empty out my china cabinet, which is filled with family heirlooms, and grab three paintings in my living room. Most everything else could burn up. It is too bad some future archaeologist couldn't find my house- I wonder what they would think of my stuff?
