Lot 10* Front Portion, Soil Associated with Pillar Supports (624.734)

This context (Cat# 734: Lot 10*, Test Cut AA, Stratum 8, Level b) consists of artifacts that were associated with the pillar supports of a 19^th century building that stood on Lot 10*. The cobble floor from the Livingston house excavated in Test Cuts AA, AC and the northeastern portion of Test Cut AB were extensively disturbed. This disturbance may have been caused by the installation of a number of large stone slabs which probably served as the base for the supporting piers of a building standing subsequent to the Livingston house. In Test Cut AA, three superimposed stones protruded into the square from the north wall (seen in the profile drawing above). The top of the uppermost slab was eight inches below the brick floor. The slabs were 17 to 19 inches in width and eight inches thick. In Test Cut AC, a single stone block was uncovered. It measured 14 by 15 inches and was 11 inches thick. The top of this block was approximately 15 inches below the surface of the test cut.

In Test Cut AA, another single slab was uncovered approximately two and a half feet south of the three slabs in the north wall. The top of this slab was 11.5 inches below the surface. It was two and a half inches thick. The test cut stratigraphy and alignment of the slabs indicate that they constituted the pier supports for a single building. The intrusive pits or trenches in which these slabs were installed originated in the rubbley sand immediately underlying the brick floor and disturbed the underlying cobble floor. Since some of the artifacts associated with the pillar supports dated to the 19^th century, the building associated with these slabs was thus the structure which was built after the home of Robert Livingston. For more information about the construction sequence on Lot 10*, please see pages 126-129 of the 7 Hanover Square site report.

• Collection method

  This context was excavated using trowels. All of the soil was dry screened using 1/4 inch mesh.

• Soil

  Brown mottled with gray, mortar, charcoal; gray sand mottled with brick, mortar, charcoal