ARCHEOLOGICAL PROJECTS STIRLING 375 



Two dumbbell-shaped wooden pestles were excavated from the 

 shell mound. The pottery is mainly undecorated. Whenever dec- 

 oration occurs, it consists of check stamp with some incising. A 

 few sherds show use of a fugitive red slip. The prevailing forms 

 seem to have been bowls. 



No sterile layers occurred in the refuse mound, indicating a con- 

 tinuous occupation, although probably seasonal, as this area would 

 have been flooded in the rainy season. A large collection of animal, 

 bird, and fish bones, and shells was made. These remains indicate 

 a diet of deer, alligators, turtles, raccoons, opossums, turkeys, water- 

 fowl, fish, and shellfish, including many marine forms. 



The burial mound, in contrast with the habitation mound, showed 

 two or three different periods of use. The first period was a short 

 occupancy of the site as a place of habitation. The second was the 

 construction of a low burial mound of muck. Following this, a sand 

 mound was built over the old muck burial mound. In front of this 

 new sand mound and facing the habitation site, across the stream, a 

 pavement of limestone rock was constructed, resting in part on the 

 old burial ground. This first sand mound seems to have been de- 

 stroyed by a hurricane, as the area around it has been covered by 

 water-washed sand containing many complete and broken human 

 bones. Two small but distinct habitation strata occur in this water- 

 deposited material. Following this period the second sand mound 

 was constructed, that is, the present visible one. This latter mound 

 extended into the historic period, as a few of the burials near the 

 surface were accompanied by glass beads. 



In all, there were 6 distinguishable periods of use of this site, 3 as 

 a place of habitation and 3 as a burial mound. During its history 

 there was no apparent radical change in culture, the material from all 

 strata closely resembling that from the adjacent shell mound. 



Carved wooden objects were recovered from the water-deposited 

 sand from the first sand mound. These included several carved bird 

 heads, a seat in the form of an otter, and parts of two plaques (pi. 1, 

 figs. 1 and 2) , similar to those found at Key Marco. In the muck near 

 the river bank and unassociated with any stratum of the mound, a 

 four-legged wooden stool, a wooden canoe paddle, and two stirring 

 paddles were uncovered. Also from the muck near these, three 

 intricately decorated bone pins were found. 



The early muck burial mound contained a tangled mass of burials. 

 Each new interment seems to have disturbed several former burials, 

 resulting in an almost solid mass of skeletal material. Artifacts 

 rarely accompanied the burials. The few found may have dropped 

 in by accident and may not have been funeral offerings. The artifacts 

 from this stratum consist mostly of bone pins that may have been 



