James H Brothers IV wrote:
>
> 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.
I do not recall seeing this particular term in the older literature.
Pits, stacks, ovens, furnaces, ricks, meilers, hearths, etc. but not
"collier pits." Regarding the ambiguity, since coal and collier
referred to charcoal and its makers before it referred to that nasty sea
coal or stone coal, it seems the responsibility should be on the latter
to be more specific!
-Ron Reno
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|