128 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 93 



of large posts supporting the rafters from the sides. Just what the 

 complete arrangement of posts may have been is uncertain, for it is 

 evident that some were either missed in the excavation or, less likely, 

 that all traces of them had vanished. No indications of small posts 

 around the outer walls were encountered except one 2-inch post near 

 the northwest wall (fig. 14). This lack of outer posts is evidently 

 significant and is not due to their being overlooked, since there were 

 no traces of any such posts along the southeast wall where other 

 features of house construction were well preserved. From the evidence 

 at hand it would seem most probable that the 5-inch posts form the 

 main interior framework from which rafters ran down to rest directly 

 on the edge of the excavated house pit. The purpose of the 2-inch 

 post previously mentioned and of the 3-inch post just southwest of the 

 fireplace remains problematical. The slanting 2-inch post on the edge 

 of the fireplace (fig. 14) probably served as a crane or other cooking 

 appurtenance. The entrance passage was near the center of the south- 

 west wall. It was 3 feet across and extended at least 10 feet beyond 

 the edge of the house. Since the ground level beyond the edge of the 

 house sloped down in this direction it is probable that this natural slope 

 and the passage floor came together beyond the end of our trench. 

 No posts were found along the passage, but they may have been 

 overlooked. 



Considering the vertical soil layers revealed in cross-section (fig. 

 14), the upper stratum was i foot deep at the edges and i foot 6 inches 

 in the center, being composed of dark humous material interlaced with 

 roots. It was free of all cultural evidences except where rodent bur- 

 rowings had introduced these from below. This accumulation had 

 evidently occurred after the abandonment of the house. Below this 

 was a layer of dark mixed soil containing charcoal, burned clay, and a 

 few artifacts. In this layer along the southwest wall near the passage 

 entrance was a considerable amount of burned clay containing imprints 

 of grass and small twigs (fig. 14). This wattle-and-daub material was 

 evidently part of the passage covering, for it also occurred 10 feet out 

 in the passage itself. The mixed layer under discussion had an average 

 thickness of slightly more than i foot and was apparently composed 

 of the fallen-in earth roof. At a depth of 2 feet 6 inches in the center 

 and 3 feet on the sides occurred a concentrated layer of charcoal, ash, 

 and artifacts forming the old floor line. This varied in thickness from 

 a few inches on the sides to over a foot near the fireplace. The 

 majority of artifacts, save those from the cache pits, occurred in this 

 layer. The fireplace was about 3 feet in diameter, being composed of 

 ash, charcoal, and cultural debris with red baked clay underneath to a 



