i68 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



No digging was done liere until after Professor Ilorsford's 

 death, with the exception of a few trenches across the supposed 

 site of Leif Erikson's house on the other side of the creek. In 

 1896, during a visit of Dr. Yaltyr Gudmundsson and Mr. Thor- 

 steinn Erlingsson, of Copenhagen and Iceland, extensive exca- 

 vations were made, leaving practically nothing unexamined at 

 this site. 



Three kinds of earth were revealed. The upper layer was 

 of black loam from thirty to forty centimetres deep; below this 

 was a yellow soil of sand and clay thirty centimetres deep; and 

 below that again the sand and gravel which had remained undis- 

 turbed since the close of the Glacial epoch. 



The ruins were at the junction of the black and yellow earth. 

 Throughout the black loam to the bottom, wherever we dug, within 

 or away from the ruins, w^ere scattered fragments of china, glass, 

 glazed pottery, nails, pipestems, broken bricks, etc., all belonging 

 to the period of the occupation of this region by the English. 

 Xone of these \vere found in places where their presence would 

 show^ that they belonged to or preceded these ruins. In the paved 

 pathway, which will be descril)ed later, a few pieces of brick lie 

 .—^ between the stones, 



H^" T*' -. .»ejm.*' ^IjKff • ■^'^■^■•'"•■^■" but not deeper than 

 * ''* "'" " ' similar fragments of 



brick were found in 

 the undisturbed earth 

 near 1)V, apparently 

 trodden in by the cat- 

 tle w^hich have been 

 pastui'ed there for 

 years. There were 

 also objects of abo- 

 riginal manufacture, 

 such as stone imple- 

 ments, pottery, pieces 

 of flint, etc. Occa- 

 sionally, at different levels, remains of fires were found, some of 

 which were merely thin layers of charcoal and ashes. There were, 

 however, two well-built fireplaces, in good condition, entirely un- 

 like each other. One of these was an Indian clambake, neatly 

 paved and piled wath ashes and unoi^ened clam shells. This lay 

 sixty-three centimetres below the sod. The photogi'aph is not of 

 this fireplace, but is a good exam])lo of all Indian firo])laces or clam- 

 bakes in Massachusetts. 



The second fii-('])lace, which was about one metre square, sur- 



Old Wall in a ("ellak in F 



HI William ]Iknhy, Maine. 



