ARCHEO'LOGICAL INVESTIGATION'S IN IVnSi&OURI 135 



the passage walls but exactly across the line of the entrance, lay a 

 large flat slab 18 inches in diameter and 6 inches underground. 

 Aside fi'om its position, which at first suggested a stepping stone, 

 there is nothing to indicate conclusively that it was a part of the 

 burial stmcture. The floor level of the passage was traced with some 

 uncertainty to the slab, where it was still about 12 inches deep. The 

 slab, lying about half as deep, could thus have been placed for con- 

 venience in getting in or out of the door. 



Our tests disclosed the fact that the clay subsoil at the north edge 

 of the mounded stones, on which the outer margin of the wall rested, 

 was only about 9 inches underground. The flagstonelike limestone 

 stratum was almost 24 inches deeper, though, as already indicated, 

 it lay only 6 or 8 inches beneath the base of the inner chamber wall. 

 Since the mound had been erected at the edge of the hill, it is likely 

 that the 3©il surface sloped toward the south over the spot selected 

 for the tomb. Projection of the clay subsoil surface southward 

 through the mound shows clearly that a pit had first been dug to 

 within 8 inches of the underlying rock stratum. "With reference to 

 the subsoil surface the floor of this pit was fully 18 inches deep at 

 the north (uphill) side of the chamber and 9-12 inches deep on the 

 south. If to this we add 6 inches for topsoil, the true original depth 

 of the pit in which the tomb had been built approximated or exceeded 

 24 inches on the north and 15 or 18 inches on the south. 



From the disturbed fill in the chamber came two pieces of human 

 bone and a very small plain grit-tempered sherd. Another similar 

 sherd, equally unenlightening as to cultural connections, was found 

 in situ in the passagewa3\ Of more interest were the materials re- 

 covered from the portions of the enclosure that had not been turned 

 over prior to our work. These included incomplete and fragmentary 

 skulls and long bones from at least four or five individuals. All 

 were found at or just above the zone of contact between the lower- 

 most dark earth layer and the thicker burnt rock-filled middle 

 stratum. Skulls 1, 2, and 3 lay close to the west wall, along with 

 several arm bones, ribs, and innominate bones, and an unworked 

 mussel shell. No. 1 was surrounded by fire-reddened stones, but 

 itself showed no evidences of burning. Parts of No. 2 were calcined, 

 but No. 3 was unburned. Nos. 4 and 5 were near the east wall, lying 

 in a disordered mass of other skeletal parts (fig. 16) ; No. 4 was 

 scorched and fragmentary, whereas No. 5, immediately below, was 

 unburned and nearly complete. A few limb bones and rib fragments 

 were found in the narrow strip of undisturbed fill in the southeast 

 and southwest corners. Near the center of the chamber, more or less 

 isolated, was a tibia exhibiting pathological conditions; a similarly 

 abnormal femur shaft lay in the southwest corner. Close examina- 



