the lower cliff wall or in the canyon itself. During a more 
humid period, the plateau above the cave or the low, 
wide terrace lying to the east across the Canyon Diablo 
bed may have been amenable to agriculture. 
A test excavation made in I'm ¢ 174in February 1949, 
showed distinct zones and a few artifacts. A later test 
excavation turned up very few additional artifacts and 
the site was about to be abandoned when three maize 
cobs wrapped in maguey string, and a fragment of petate 
(woven fiber mat) were found. After this discovery, the 
entire cave was excavated, following the conventional 
method of digging in five-foot squares. 
The stratigraphy of the cave comprised five zones. The 
uppermost, zone A, was made up of loose rock fill under- 
laid by ash and a layer of refuse composed in part of well- 
mixed vegetal material. The zone varied in thickness 
from four to 14 inches in different parts of the cave. 
Underlying zone A was a stratum composed of gray 
refuse and lenses of ash and vegetal material separated 
from each other by soil. This was called zone B. It varied 
in depth in different parts of the cave and appeared to 
comprise several different levels of occupation. In ana- 
lyzing the vegetal remains, a distinction was made be- 
tween High B and Low B. 
Zone C was asterile layer composed of small flakes of 
rock and fine silt formed by the weathering of the sur- 
rounding limestone under relatively dry climatic condi- 
tions. 
Zone LD was a dark gray, almost black, cultural stra- 
tum, interspersed with layers of rock, covering only part 
of the cave floor and usually about a foot thick. Occa- 
sionally under zone D there was a thin layer of yellow 
silt, devoid of human remains, which is called zone E. 
In most of the cave, zone D lay directly on the limestone 
floor. 
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