156 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 93 



In trench i (fig. 19) was revealed a good cross-section of soil 

 layers away from the house pits. Dug primarily to intersect any long 

 passage coming from house 2, it yielded little cultural evidence ex- 

 cept a few potsherds and flint chips at depths of from 10 to 15 inches. 

 The first 10 inches were of black unmixed humous soil; below this 

 were 16 inches of dark nodular soil with the few evidences of hu- 

 man occupation in the upper portion, then 10 inches of transitional 

 material between the dark nodular and the pure yellow clay, the latter 

 occurring at 36 inches. Cross-sections in house 2 (figs. 20, 21) 

 showed the same general strata, and the nodular soil layer occurred 

 both inside and outside the house area. A darker coloration caused 

 by charcoal and intrusive material, especially along the old floor line, 

 served to distinguish the general outline of the house. Near the 

 borders, where artificial matter was scarce, there was blending be- 

 tween mixed and unmixed soil, hence the difficulty in tracing house 



. /^03T r^OLO 



)ftK 



Fig. 20. — Cross-section, north to south, house 2, Gates site. 



boundaries. It is the presence of artificial matter and the resulting 

 slight dift'erences in color alone which reveal the old lodges. 



In regard to the original structure of house 2 we have evidence 

 to show only that it was a subrectangular earth lodge built in a pit 

 perhaps li to 2 feet deep and that it had no outside passage except 

 the one in the northwest corner leading into house 3. The three 

 larger post molds (fig. 19, I-III), as already suggested, may be part 

 of a four-post central foundation of which the east post was not 

 located. If so, both walls and central posts would be generally oriented 

 with the four points of the compass. Such an orientation of central 

 posts, however, would make the inner roof framework diagonal to 

 the walls. No outer row of postholes, nor any indication of such a 

 row, was encountered. It is hardly possible that any large number 

 of such posts would have been overlooked. Hence it would appear 

 that rafters extending from the central roof framework rested on the 

 edges of the house pit excavation, which may have been banked up. 

 Granting that it had the four-post central foundation already sug- 

 gested, it would only require beams and rafters of 12 feet or less in 



