Built for defense, Fort Boonesborough fell into disuse after the threat posed by the British and their Indian allies vanished. Its log walls and cabins decayed, rock from its chimneys was scavenged for use elsewhere, and periodic flooding covered what remained with silt. In 1987, University of Kentucky archeologist Nancy O'Malley began investigating the fort's site after reviewing hundreds of pages of historic documents about the fort and its location. Archeological fieldwork yielded the remains of a dry-laid stone foundation and a number of late-eighteenth-century artifacts, and investigations in 2012 uncovered more of the stone foundation, an associated hearth, and more artifacts. Historic records document a double cabin near the center of the fort, and after analyzing the archeological data, O'Malley concluded that the stone foundation and hearth were the remains of that structure. The double cabin was a dogtrot, with two cabins separated by a breezeway under a common roof; Squire Boone, Daniel's brother, occupied one side and had a gunsmithing shop in the breezeway, while either the David Gass or Richard Callaway family occupied the other side. By the end of the 2014 field season, four cabins along the east, west, and south walls, the corner of the southwest blockhouse, and the central double-cabin complex had been identified, allowing O'Malley to reconstruct Fort Boonesborough's footprint.