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wall of the house. Why then would the occupants cmrtruct their fire box. likely the only
source of heat in the house, in the comer? To answer this qucrrim. the acher hearth
haum must he carefully analM. Considering that the fire box was in the comer of the
hemh. why would here k rueh a highchmal conlent in the center of the he& arw
lruggcsting this area was also used for fires)? And. why was the elevation of he flmr
10-15 cm lowcr than the rest of the first emhen flwr inside the house?
A possible crplmvtion of all thew questions may lie with the diroveryof the second.
dccpcr emhen flwr beneah the heaehsobhic rub-floor It appears that when the house
W~L* fiw cons~~cted. the he* source was located directly on rhc ernhen flmr in the
center of the hcanh ma. This wouldexplwn the high charcoal content noted in the roil
in char pan of the hemh. Upon cxpriencing Ihe discomfort of flmding brought on by
groundwater pcrmcaing through rhe east gable wall (positioned against r fissure-filled
bedrock ourcmp). the occupantr m y well have decided to alleviate the pmhlem by
rasing the emkn flwr and &adding a dralnagc system. Howem thm leaves the question
of how lo heat the house and c d meals. The solution was to relocale the heat source
onto stone slabs ~n the northeast comer where it was pdastaled an a mound of gravel.
There was also something different uboul the condition and qualityof some of rhe
mifacts recovered fmm he hearth ma In addirion to king plentiful (which in iwlf is
nor entirely unusual considering Ute 8mponrncc of Bc hearth area to Ulc floorplanl.