There were a number of ash dumps which were always associated with
fireplaces. They were present in all three of the houses excavated. One
outstanding characteristic is the completeness of combustion represented
by the ashes. In no instance were small charred pieces of wood found
with the ash, a thing to be expected unless the fire burned under forced
draft or was carefully tended. While the ash in the dumps could have
been selectively collected so that only the completely burned ash was
thrown out, the same would not be true of the ash found in every
fireplace excavated. It is suggested that this result would be normal
only if low flame charcoal fires were used and these nursed to produce
the desired heat, with red hot coals being buried in the ash to slow
down their combustion until such time as it was desired to rekindle a
hotter fire. A further consideration would be that only this type of
fire would be relatively safe inside a grass thatched house.
House 1 had three ash dumps, two of which were inside the house and in
close contact with the firebasin, and one outside the house. These dumps
tended to be rounded and about two feet in diameter. In depth they
ranged from .6 foot in the center but tapered away to nothing at the
outer edges. The single ash dump associated with house 3 was similar in
all respects.