414 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1954 



and retouched blades and flakes. An unusual object was a small, 

 flat, ovate slate pebble bearing a scratched cross-hatching on its face 

 (fig. 10, c). One small shell pendant was also recovered (iig. 10, a). 

 Worked-bone implements were relatively plentiful. These ranged 

 from simple bone splinters with sharpened points, to carefully pol- 

 ished, long, slender pins (fig. 10, e). 



I feel that there are strong typological resemblances between certain 

 flints from Coon's (1951) Belt cave and Shanidar B. Coon's (1952) 

 Hotu cave, also in Iran, while lacking the finer distinctive forms, such 

 as the trapezoids, subtriangles, and others, similarly appears to have 

 a very late upper Paleolithic flavor — even Mesolithic (Dupree, 1952, 

 p. 257, footnote 1 ) . If not Shanidar B in character, the artifacts of 

 Hotu are quite close to it in affinities. From the bottom of Layer B 

 (or B^, figs. 8, 9) , Suess obtained a carbon-14 date on a charcoal sample 

 (W-179) of 12,000 ±400 years or about 10000 B. C. 



Layer C. — As previously stated, Layer B had intruded into Layer 

 C, a much thicker deposit. This resulted in some confusion of arti- 

 fact types in the very top of Layer C and the bottom of Layer B. 

 The top of Layer C increased in depth below the surface to the west, 

 and in this respect it conformed with the westward dip of Layer B. 

 Layer C had a thickness of 13 feet (3.96 m.) in the eastern part 

 of the sounding, and 10 feet (3.05 m.) in the western part. In th« 

 northern part of the sounding — an area which was most intensively 

 explored in the 1951 season — Layer C was composed principally of a 

 relatively organic-free, yellowish-brown, sandy loam. A large num- 

 ber of limestone boulders and stones, representing at least two falls 

 from the cave's ceiling, were encountered. Evidence of human occu- 

 pation, such as traces of charcoal, hearths, and artifactual materials, 

 were found among these stones. Not until the season of 1953, when 

 the southern portion in the "step-back" was explored, was it fully 

 realized that the major occupational stratum of Layer C was contained 

 south of the boulder complex. There, hearths and ash lenses were 

 clearly marked in detail in the dark, organic-stained soil. The im- 

 plication is that the cave dwellers naturally preferred a boulder-free 

 living-room area. Some of the boulders must have formed a sort of 

 shelter, since hearths were found within what must have been small, 

 overhanging, protective nooks of limestone blocks. There is abundant 

 and conclusive evidence that all the dangers were not outside the cave. 

 The falls of limestone must have interrupted life around the hearths, 

 for more than one hearth was found underneath a boulder, its nor- 

 mally flat lens compressed and contorted out of shape by the weight 

 of the stone. The heaviest fall of stones was encountered in the north- 

 em part of the sounding near the bottom of Layer C. The occupa- 

 tional traces in the upper part of Layer C were relatively light in 



