Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, December 1899: Vol. LVI, November, 1899 to April, 1900Various
Science
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, December 1899: Vol. LVI, November, 1899 to April, 1900
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
This hut was four metres across the front, and may have been five
metres deep. When the sod, stones, and the clearings, which had been
thrown in from the cultivated field above, were all removed, the
remains of two side walls were found, supported and protected by the
upper portions of these same walls which had slipped down from above
and lay close to them, forming a compact mass of earth and stones.
None of the stones in this wall were in contact with each other, being
separated by two or three inches of dark earth such as results from
the decay of vegetable matter. There was no fireplace. The manner of
constructing these walls was the counterpart of Icelandic work. I
shall now show you how this differs from post-Columbian cellars.
[Illustration: ANCIENT WALL IN ICELAND, SHOWING LAYERS OF TURF BETWEEN
THE STONES.]
This is a photograph of a ruin in the Thjór's River Valley, in
Iceland. It shows the sod between the stones closely packed but
distinct. The stones in our early English and French cellars
practically touch each other, as in the old cellar in Fort William
Henry, in Maine. Sometimes broken stones fill the interstices, as in
another example of stonework at Fort William Henry. Mortar has been
used here more or less since the beginning of the seventeenth century.
[Illustration: OLD WALL IN A CELLAR IN FORT WILLIAM HENRY, MAINE.]
[Illustration: OLD WALL AT FORT WILLIAM HENRY, MAINE.]
Although European or post-Columbian walls and cellars differ
considerably among themselves, it is within certain limits.
Post-Columbian walls, or foundation walls when built on the surface of
the ground, were practically homogeneous in character, the French only
attaining to one metre in thickness, whereas Icelandic walls were
disposed in three distinct parts, the inner and outer sides being
constructed in layers and the space between being filled in with
closely packed earth, while they were never less than a metre and a
half thick.
Icelandic outhouses when dug into a hillside dispensed with the triple
wall at the back and on the sides, and thus when stone-faced partially
resemble our cellars. But even then they still retain one
characteristic feature, in their alternate layers of turf and stone.
[Illustration: SUPPOSED NORSE PATHWAY IN MASSACHUSETTS.]
[Illustration: SOUTHERN TURN OF SUPPOSED NORSE PATHWAY.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account