46 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 97 



between these factors are already apparent, and these can be briefly 

 outHned. In all, three adjoining excavations were made at this site, 

 the main stratigraphic cut designated as excavation i ; a northern ex- 

 tension of this cut resulting from the discovery toward the close 

 of the work of older and deeper cultural material; and excavation 2 

 extending through a polychrome refuse heap to the east. For present 

 purposes we will confine our remarks to excavation i and, to a 

 lesser extent, to the northern extension. The beginnings of all these 

 cuts can be seen in the illustration (pi. 2, fig. 3). 



A cross-section (fig. 6) of the west end of excavation i shows the 

 outstanding stratigraphic features. This excavation was originally 

 5 meters long from east to west, paralleling the cut river bank, and 

 4.5 meters in width from north to south. Owing to the outward slope 

 of the bank, the bottom of the excavation was 8 meters in breadth 

 (fig. 6). When the May floods made further work impossible, we had 

 reached a depth of 5.20 meters in excavation i and 5.40 meters in 

 the northern extension. In size, the northern extension was less than 

 one-third of excavation i. 



The cross-section along the west wall of excavation i (fig. 6) shows 

 the various soil layers. The 2 upper meters consist of alternating 

 deposits of dark silt, light silt, and sand. Below this is a thick deposit 

 of dense clay which terminates at a total depth of 3.80 meters in a 

 thin bed of sand or sandy silt (level 8, fig. 6). This sand layer has 

 here a slight dip from the north and thins out near the southern 

 edge. Beneath this layer is a sandy clay (level 9, fig, 6) which, with 

 certain minor changes, extends down to the bottom of our excava- 

 tion. On the extreme southern edge and in the deepest portion is a 

 deposit of sand and gravel (fig. 6) which ran the length of the exca- 

 vation and may represent an old stream bed. In the west wall cross- 

 section the sand layer (level 8, fig. 6) seems to dip toward this sand 

 and gravel deposit but, on the east wall cross-section, the sand is 

 much thicker (40 cm) and extends on a level plane to the edge of 

 the bank at a point i meter above the lower sand and gravel deposit. 



The first potsherds and other cultural detritus occur in the dense 

 clay deposit simultaneously with a layer of river boulders (fig. 6). 

 Throughout this clay deposit polychrome pottery is abundant, as are 

 other cultural manifestations. The polychrome debris is thickest in 

 a definite refuse deposit on the southern edge which dips slightly 

 less than i meter below the main clay and pottery-bearing stratum 

 (refuse heap, fig. 6). Debris extends down almost to the low sand 

 and gravel deposit suggesting that it had been dumped over a low 

 bank at the edge of an old water course. The refuse heap here 



