Both the cellar and the lower levels of the convict hut presented waterlogged or anaerobic conditions, allowing for the preservation of the timber floor of the cellar and some of the lower timbers of the convict hut. Not all the timbers could be conserved and in some cases modern timbers have been used to indicate the positions of original timbers in the displays. One of the most unusual features was the depth of stratigraphy on Allotment 16, with over a metre from the original topsoil to the current kerb height on Macquarie Street. Pollen samples were taken from the soil profile, revealing the changing environment over time and the presence of cereal pollen at the beginning of historical settlement, when Rose Hill was a government farm from 1788 to 1790. The depth of stratigraphy also allowed assemblages from each period of occupation to be treated separately, revealing the paucity of material comforts for the early convict occupants    Other development postdates hotel. The depth of stratigraphy on the Macquarie Street frontage of Allotment 16 preserved intact the remains of the convict hut and its extensions, including the wheelwrights workshop. These were overlain by demolition layers and only partially cut through by the later brick cottage, built between 1836 and 1844. The demolition of the cottage in the 1950s also provided protection for the underlying archaeology. Initially it was thought that the concrete piers from the failed 1990s development had destroyed the archaeological remains, but excavation proved their intactness. Because the site had been in a low lying and poorly drained area, there was a historical tendency to build up the ground around the archaeological sites to the level of Macquarie Street, in order to avoid flooding. The preservation of the archaeological remains on Allotment 16 is therefore largely due to this accumulation of layers and to waterlogging of the lower soil profile. The adjacent buildings on Allotment 17 and 18 were located on higher ground and did not therefore have a similar stratigraphic history. These sites tended to be cut down to the level of the adjacent streets. This resulted in the poor preservation of building remains except for the most recent, but did allow the deep cellar of the Shepherd Inn to survive. As at 17 January 2019, the two in situ archaeological displays at 45 Macquarie Street, Parramatta are of state heritage significance for their historical values demonstrating the development of Parramatta, the second settlement in NSW, from a Goal Town to a Market Town between the years 1790 and 1823.