I36 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



stones which had fallen from the ceiling and the pulverized dust which 

 had blown in before the entrance was blocked. A definite cleavage or 

 floor existed between the habitation stratum and the lower 6 feet ; how- 

 ever there was no evidence of pits. Although most of the coiled bas- 

 kets and mattings were fragmentary, none of them gave the appear- 

 ance of having been merely discarded. In almost every case we found 

 a layer of matting, then a bundle of grass, and the basket fragment on 

 top. After a small area of habitation stratum was carefully removed 

 the remaining 6 feet of earth and stones was shovelled into buckets, 

 carried outside and sifted through a -|- inch mesh screen (fig. 130). 



( )nly one who has worked in a cave where the sole means of venti- 

 lation was a small opening at the floor level can fully understand the 

 physical difficulties under which our work was carried on. Dry dust, 

 finer than flour, formed thick clouds. There was no escaping it ; no 

 movement of air to remove it. Dust masks were indispensable, and 

 even with this protection it was necessary to leave every 15 or 20 

 minutes to fill our lungs with fresh air and change the filters in the 

 masks. The fine dust even clogged the mantles of our gasoline lan- 

 terns, so that pocket flashlights had to suffice for illumination. Credit 

 is due to my four Mexicans for remaining after the first week. But 

 our lungs soon became adjusted to the ordeal. 



Near the entrance the skeleton of a small child had been buried 2 

 feet 3 inches beneath the surface with several lumps of yellow ochre, 

 two small flint projectile points, and a tiny waterworn quartz pebble. 

 The child had been placed on a small sotol plaited matting and cov- 

 ered with grass. 



More than 70 artifacts were in the habitation stratum. They con- 

 sist of coiled baskets and plaited sotol mattings, sandals, twisted yucca 

 fiber cordage, stone beads, gourd sherds, cradles, yucca bags, wooden 

 and bone awls. Two techniques are apparent in the matting and 

 plaques : one, the horizontal-vertical plaiting — over one and under 

 one (fig. 131, a) ; over two and under two (fig. 131, b) — the other, 

 diagonal plaiting, over one and under one (fig. 13T, c). Dr. Gene 

 Weltfish, who chanced to visit the National Museum shortly after 

 my return from the field, after examining the coiled baskets described 

 them as follows: " They consist of a coiled multiple reed foundation 

 with a yucca blade used as a sewing thread ; the stitching is bifurcated 

 on the nonworked surface (fig. 132, a), and the concave surface, the 

 work side, is analogous to the single rod foundation coiling ( fig. 



132, b)r 



One of the most interesting specimens is a small cradle, 25 inches 

 long and ioi inches wide, made of long twigs held together by inter- 



