SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1 93 1 145 



set up on edge. Resting upon these slabs and rising some distance 

 above them were several courses of rough masonry (fig. 138). In 

 this case the plaster was applied to the faces of the stones and to the 

 casual observer there would have been no difference between the in- 

 terior appearance of this and other dwellings. The pits ranged from 

 2 to 6 feet in depth and 10 to 20 feet in diameter. 



The superstructure erected over the pits was supported by four 

 upright posts set in the floor a short distance from the walls. The 

 upper ends of these main supports were forked, tree trunks with 

 suitable crotches having been obtained for the purpose, and carried 

 cross-beams (fig. 139). These stringers formed a rectangular frame- 

 work against which were placed the upper ends of smaller timbers, 

 the butts of which rested on the ground some distance back from the 

 edges of the pit. The slanting poles formed the main part of the 

 sloping upper walls of the house (fig. 140). At the top the rectangu- 

 lar space was covered with a flat roof with an opening near the center 

 which functioned as a smoke hole and entrance. The entire frame- 

 work was covered with brush, leaves, and strips of cedar bark. On 

 top of this a thick layer of mud plaster was spread and over all there 

 was a thin coating of earth. Indications were that the tops of the 

 roofs were only elevated above the ground sufficiently to provide for 

 drainage. A village composed of houses of this type would not be 

 striking in appearance, for all that an onlooker would see would be a 

 series of low, rounding mounds with the ends of ladders projecting 

 through rectangular openings in their tops (fig. 141). 



The interior features of such houses were simple. Near the 

 center of each, directly under the opening in the roof, was a fire pit. 

 Close to it, on the southeast side, was a second depression in the 

 floor in which rested the lower end of the ladder used in gaining ac- 

 cess to the chamber. Scattered about in the floor were numbers of 

 small holes which served as depositories for minor objects, such as 

 implements of bone and stone. An occasional dwelling had a storage 

 recess in the wall. Where these were present they were on the floor 

 level. None were placed above it. At the east or southeast side of each 

 room there was an aperture in the wall which opened into a short 

 tunnel. The latter led to a vertical shaft whose outlet was on the 

 ground level some distance from the edge of the roof mound. This 

 constituted the ventilator. The nature of the houses was such that a 

 constant supply of fresh, cold air was drawn down into them through 

 this ventilator, a fact conclusively demonstrated by the reconstructed 

 dwelling. Between the opening in the wall and the fire pit, at the 

 base of the ladder, an upright slab of stone was set in the floor. This 



