Existing comment:
Reading an Old Building:
The Mysteries Hidden Below
Many parts of an old building's story lie below ground level. Foundation walls, discarded building materials, and long-forgotten artifacts may yield important clues about construction and use through time.
1. Archeologists discovered this foundation and determined that it predated the existing building. The clue that led archeologists to this conclusion is that the foundation lies beneath the alley walls. This suggests its earlier construction.
Archeologists found no artifacts which identified the original purpose of the earlier building. Historians helped solve the mystery with an 1820s map showing a stone stable on this site.
2. The wall corner shows the interior of the earlier structure. How far can you trace the walls? If you were the archeologist, what questions would you like to answer?
3. Even bedrock provides clues. Here the absence of foundations indicates no construction below this point. |