Archaeologist Jeremy Smith explains how the colour of a marble fireplace in a large 19th century house revealed its room’s function.

Further Information

TRANSCRIPT

JEREMY SMITH: Architectural historians inform me that you can tell the function of a room by the colour of the marble in the fireplace. Apparently, the drawing room is recognized as being a feminine room. And the marble used in those types of room tends to be very light in colour. Whereas the dining room is a male dominated room, for some reason. And the colours of the fireplaces there tend to be black, or very dark, marble.

And we did find that at Viewbank. There are two large significant rooms at the front of the house. What we believe to be a dining room and a drawing room. And within the drawing room, the marble that was recovered was a very light gray colour. Whereas the other room was very black. So we suspect that would have been the dining room.