I06 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 97 



work because Mr. Edwards reported deep, and possibly stratified, 

 burials here, and M. K. Rittenhouse reported the finding of two pots 

 of the old Playa de los Muertos type (pi. 15, a, b) amidst similar 

 sherds at a depth of less than a meter. The surface of the field was 

 irregular, but definite mounds were hard to find in the dense, low bush. 

 However, ticks of all sorts were not. We selected and cleared a roughly 

 circular mound, 18 meters wide from north to south, 21 meters wide, 

 and 50 centimeters high, located about 100 meters north of the western 

 end of mound i (map, fig. 20). East of the center line of the mound 

 we dug a north-to-south trench 2^ meters wide and 12 meters long. 

 The west wall of the trench was later extended 3.5 meters north, and 

 two western side trenches were dug well beyond the center of the 

 mound. 



A small portion of the long western wall of this cut is shown (pi. 

 16, fig. 5, and text fig. 31). A layer of dark, humous soil occurred 

 just below the surface on the entire mound (fig. 31). Just below this, 

 in the thick deposit of yellow-brown mixed soil we cross-sectioned the 

 entire floor of a house (see house floor, fig. 31) composed of black, 

 burned soil containing many sherds, metate fragments, and refuse. 

 Beyond the edge of the diagram here shown (fig. 31), this occupation 

 level or floor dipped, forming a level area for about 5 meters, then 

 rose to the ground level, extending on into what appeared to be another 

 floor or occupation level beyond the limits of the excavation. The 

 same type of occupation level also occurred at the surface on the 

 south end of our main trench. Our western cross trenches showed 

 that the central floor area extended 2 meters to the west, where it 

 again rose to the surface. No post holes occurred in our cross-section 

 of the central house, but one was found extending below the occupa- 

 tion level at the north end of the central trench. No special fireplaces 

 were noted, but charcoal was abundant. Judging from our trenches, 

 there are numerous house floors in this vicinity, on or just below the 

 present level of the ground. These contain the finest Yojoa poly- 

 chrome and associated cooking ware sherds, along Avith other refuse. 

 Here, as at Naco, an expedition engaged in other than exploratory, 

 stratigraphic work, could easily clear entire house floors and work 

 out the features in detail. During the first part of our work the 

 trenches were taken down below the occupation area into the sterile, 

 yellow clay and gravel stratum (fig. 31) which occurred at an average 

 depth of about 1.3 meters below the surface. Polychrome sherds, 

 stones, charcoal, burned clay, fragments of pumice, and broken arti- 

 facts occurred throughout the yellow-brown soil. The mixed soil level 

 became darker just above the sterile layer (pi. 16, fig. 5, and text fig. 



