Discovery of the Ur-Pit

That would be barbecue pit, as in Beck's Barbecue of Lexington, North Carolina, the capital of North Carolina Barbecue:

Workers got a sweet taste of the past while doing renovations at the city manager’s office in Lexington, North Carolina.

They came across barbecue pits believed to date back to the town’s first barbecue joint, Beck’s Barbecue, from the 1940s and 1950s, WFMY-TV reported.

Lexington City Manager Alan Carson said restaurant owner Alton Beck previously worked for Sid Weaver, founder of the city’s now-famous barbecue scene.

While officials and longtime residents knew Beck’s was located near where city hall stands today, they didn’t know about the existence of the barbecue pits.

“To the heritage of Lexington, it’s a big find,” Carson told the Triad Business Journal. “It’s something that nobody, I think, knew was there, and something that people seem to be interested in seeing.”

The pits were discovered in the modern-day conference room of the building, and are believed to have been covered up since the 1980s. As renovations move forward, officials are trying to find a way to make these symbols of the past a representation of the future.