412 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



VOL.. 55. 



natural earth with thin layers of packed black earth, indicating the 



floor level. 



Pit No. 2. — Twenty-five feet southeast of pit No. 1 there was 



opened a pit 63 inches deep and 12 feet in diameter. On the west 



side was observed an earth bench 6 inches 

 in height, and at the floor level near the 

 southeast wall a hole 27 inches deep and 

 12 inches in diameter. (Fig. 1.) On the 

 floor near the center of the pit lay a meal- 

 ing stone and adjoining it a fireplace. 

 Kemains of posts (pi. 31), some frag- 

 ments of baked roofing mud, hand stones, 

 and animal bones were found in this pit. 

 Mealing house. — Southwest of pit No. 2 was unearthed a mealing 



house, 12 feet square, as indicated by charred remains of corner posts. 



holt 



Fig. 1.— Ground plan of pit. 



This shed, like the pit houses, had been roofed with mud. It con- 



FiG. 2.— Objects in place in mealing house. (From a sketcu by tee author.) 



tained 6 to 8 metates, one of them mounted on three rounded stones 

 (fig. 2), and many hand stones, rubbing stones, slabs, etc. Frag- 

 ments of nine large coarse pottery jars and several bowls were inter- 

 spersed among the stone im- 

 plements. There were here 

 several burnt clay hearths and 

 much charcoal mixed with the 

 soil. (Fig. 3.) All the speci- 

 mens were found in the layer 

 of surface loam somewhat 

 more than a foot under the 

 ground. The loam which is about a foot deep becomes very hard 

 when dry and breaks into cubes during drought. The structure un- 

 earthed here was an open-air shed, mud covered, in which grinding 

 and cooking was done as in the similar sheds of the Pima-Papago. 

 (Fig. 4.) 



Fig. 3.— Clay hearth and method of use. 



