Post in ground
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Post in ground construction, also called earthfast[1] or hole-set posts, is a type of construction in which vertical, roof-bearing timbers, called posts, are in direct contact with the ground. They may be placed into excavated post holes,[2] driven into the ground, or on sills which are set on the ground without a foundation. Earthfast construction is common from the Neolithic period to the present and is used worldwide. Post-in-the-ground construction is sometimes called an "impermanent" form such as for houses which are expected to last a decade or two before a better quality structure can be built.[3]
Post in ground construction can also include sill on grade, wood-lined cellars, and pit houses. Most pre-historic and medieval wooden dwellings were built post in ground worldwide.
History
This type of construction is often believed to be an intermediate form between a palisade construction and a stave construction. Because the postholes are easily detected in archaeological surveys, they can be differentiated from the other two.
Post-in-ground was one of the timber construction methods used for French colonial structures in New France specifically called poteaux-en-terre.
The Japanese also used earthfast construction they call Hottate-bashira (literally "embedded pillars")[4] until the eighteenth century.
Some places the people still use post in ground construction such as the Toguna shelter of the Dogon people in Africa.
Poteaux-en-terre
In the historical region of New France poteaux-en-terre was a historic style of earthfast timber framing. This method is very similar to poteaux-sur-sol but for the boulin (hewn posts) planted in the ground rather than landing on a sill plate. The spaces between the boulin were filled with bousillage (reinforced mud) or pierrotage (stones and mud).
Gallery of poteaux-en-terre
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Drawing of poteaux-en-terre in the Beauvais House in Ste Genevieve MO -
A cross section of a poteaux-en-terre house. -
A model of the Beauvais-Amoureux House, showing poteaux-en-terre construction. -
Poteaux-en-Terre-Cellar of the Maison Beauvais-Amoureux. -
First Courthouse, St. Louis, MO; from a c. 1915 postcard.
See also
- French colonization of the Americas
- Old Spanish Fort (Pascagoula, Mississippi). The La Pointe-Krebs House.
- Pit-house
- Post church
- Poteaux-sur-solle
- Ste. Genevieve, Missouri
- Stilt house
References
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0). Oxford University Press, 2009
- ^ http://www.stavkirke.org
- ^ Carson, Cary, Norman F. Barka, William M. Kelso, Garry Wheller Stone, and Dell Upton. "Impermanent Architecture in the Southern American Colonies." Material Life in America, 1600-1860, edited by Robert Blair St. George, 113-158. Boston: Northern University Press, 1988.
- ^ Gina Lee Barnes. Yamato: archaeology of the first Japanese state. googlebooks?id=S-sDAQAAIAAJ
External links
- EARTHFAST ARCHITECTURE IN EARLY MAINE
- Earthfast Architecture at the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities
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