126 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 92 



tall trees give it a most picturesque appearance. It stands to the 

 north of the mangrove swamp and on the southeastern edge of Plan 

 Grande, being only a short walk from Savannah Bight (map, fig. 33). 

 It is apparently inaccessible except from the northern side, where a 

 narrow pathway, in part artificial, leads up to the top. This pathway 

 is exceptionally interesting owing to two partially artificial terraces 

 on the steep slope, which have been carefully built up with large fiat 

 slabs of rock. In the center of each of these is a series of narrow, 

 rough steps, and on the outer edge of each terrace is a breast-high 

 wall of boulders and piled slabs. A few men behind these fortifications 

 could easily defend the hill top. There are potsherds, conch shells, 

 and other cultural debris scattered amidst these crude but effective 

 constructions. The density of the trees and hanging vines, combined 

 with the impossibility of getting far enough away to gain perspective, 

 prevented photographing. Owing to these factors, as well as to the 

 wildly tumbled nature of the rocks generally, the fact that this approach 

 is in considerable part artificial might easily be overlooked. Mr. 

 Haskell and I made a very careful examination and concluded that 

 considerable portions of the terraces, walls, and steps were definitely 

 artificial. 



The area on top is fairly level, with the exception of a number of 

 steep pinnacles, and includes an acre or two. It had recently been 

 partially cleared to make a small plantation. The rocky pinnacles con- 

 tained a good number of potsherds, obsidian chips, broken artifacts, 

 animal bones, fish bones, and conch and whelk shells. This type of 

 material also occurred thinly scattered all over the top of the hill. We 

 tried to work our way around the edge of the rim, but the tumbled 

 rocks and dense brush made this impossible. So far as I could tell, 

 there was no other practicable way up except the fortified trail al- 

 ready described. Test pits in the cleared area revealed Httle in the 

 way of artifacts ; these were more abundant under and around the 

 rocks and on the surface. The place has all the appearances of being 

 a fortified retreat to which the people of Plan Grande could retire in 

 time of need. There is said to be a spring near the base of Marble 

 Hill, but I did not visit it. On the north, west, and south sides of the 

 hill, at the base, are a number of great crevices or cracks formed by 

 huge slabs splitting off the clifif and piling up. We found only a few 

 sherds in these, but Bird and his party got a considerable amount of 

 material from such places, especially on the west and southwest sides 

 of the hill. Mitchell-Hedges gives a thrilling account of explorations 



