AECHEOLOGICAL PROJECTS STIRLHSTG 395 



one ravine to the other. This low ridge of earth indicates the 

 former existence of a palisade which protected the community at 

 that side. 



The first excavations consisted of a series of trenches dug at regu- 

 lar intervals in the area surrounding and lying between the main 

 mounds (pi. 8, fig. 1), These trenches revealed a number of interest- 

 ing things, among them the remains of 30 houses, a temple, and 

 numerous refuse deposits. 



The houses were found to have been round in outline, with walls 

 of wattle and daub construction. This was evidenced by the fact 

 that there were large quantities of burned clay bearing the impres- 

 sion of poles and cane and even, in some cases, small sections of cane 

 walls in the debris removed from the floors of a number of houses 

 which had been destroyed by fire. The wall of each house was sup- 

 ported by a series of heavy posts, 2 to 3 inches in diameter, placed 

 at intervals of approximately 4 feet around the periphery. The 

 spaces between these upright timbers were filled by panels of cane 

 strips. The latter, averaging i/^ inch in width and ^V ii^ch thick, 

 were placed- side by side in vertical position. In most cases they 

 touched along their edges. The vertical strips were reinforced by 

 a series of horizontal canes spaced approximately 1 foot apart and 

 extending from post to post. The horizontal and vertical pieces 

 were not interwoven, and there was nothing to show how the hori- 

 zontal ones were held in place, although indications were that they 

 had been on the outside of the wall. The canes were covered with 

 a thick coating of mud plaster. Where indications of an entry or 

 doorway were i^resent they were invariably on the east to southeast 

 side. Two of the structures had had a passageway leading to the 

 doorway. The only interior feature noted was that of a shallow, 

 circular fire basin in the center of the hard-packed floor. A few 

 examples had a raised rim of mud plaster, but most of them were 

 merely depressions in the floor. The average house was 16 feet in 

 diameter and, judging from burned posts in a number of those 

 uncovered, the walls were approximately 8 feet high. The floor was 

 on or slightly below the ground level. Wliere depressed, this was 

 no doubt due to constant sweeping of the area. There was no indi- 

 cation of a pit dwelling. The mounds covering the sites of many 

 of these structures were merely the result of debris accumulating 

 around the fallen walls and roofs. Practically every small mound 

 had a depression near the center. This feature was due in part, no 

 doubt, to the fire basin, but was sufficiently pronounced to suggest 

 that there was an opening in the roof above the fireplace. 



The remains of the structure tentatively called a temple were 

 so designated because the building had been much larger than any of 



