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Jeff D. Leach,
C. Britt Bousman, and David L.
Nickels
Assigning Context to Artifacts in Burned-Rock Middens
Journal of
Field Archaeology 30 (2005) 201--203
Abstract
Accumulations of fire-cracked rock and carbon-stained sediment in pits
mark locations of past cooking and heating facilities around the world.
While the specific functions of these features may vary, the use of stones
as heating elements in earth ovens is common. After repeated use, debris
in the form of fire-cracked stones, charcoal, ash, sediment, carbonized
plant fragments, and other materials accumulates to form low mounds known
in the U.S. Southern Plains and the Southwest as burned-rock middens. The
middens may include artifacts, some introduced inadvertently with sediment
used to form an earthen cap to seal the pit oven. The sediment and
included artifacts for this insulating cap may be borrowed from other
parts of the site. After the cooking is complete, the earthen cap is
peeled open and all materials redistributed by trampling and slope wash.
Artifacts and other materials in burned-rock middens, therefore, may not
represent discrete events or periods directly associated with use of the
ovens.
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