Over the last couple of years I have run across the term "collier pits" in the
Virginia archeological literature as a synonym for charcoal pits. A collier
being someone who makes charcoal or works in a coal mine, "collier pit" seems
an unnecessarily ambiguous term, where "charcoal pit" is not.
I have not seen the term used in historic documents and have questioned its
use. Charcoal pit being the term used in the iron industry literature. The
claim by those using "collier pit" is that they are just following the lead of
geologists and the USGS who have marked lots of them on maps. Any thoughts?
I keep imagining something like a bear baiting pit or a cock fighting ring into
which one throws a couple of enraged colliers to fight it out :-).
JH Brothers IV
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