8 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 95 



been abandoned and were completely filled with compact material, they 

 were easily seen. Wherever they occurred in the side walls or faces 

 of the sections, they were included in the diagram. They have not 

 been indicated in figure i because they are not deemed essential to the 

 discussion of the valley fill. One interesting fact came out of the 

 check on the animal burrows, however. It has been a common prac- 

 tice on the part of many to discount all finds made in comparatively 

 deep deposits by attributing their location to the work of animals. 

 They explain that the specimens were either carried down by such 

 creatures or fell into holes made by them. Out of a total of 983 

 burrows, only i contained an implement. When it .is borne in mind 

 that 750 implements were recovered, the extremely small percentage 

 for such an occurrence becomes apparent. Furthermore, indications 

 were that the animal concerned had been attempting to remove the 

 stone from the burrow and that it had been unable to do so. Those 

 who have excavated in the Southwest, where sites riddled by prairie 

 dogs are a common feature, have frequently noted that the animals 

 will bring objects to the surface but that it is extremely rare to find 

 specimens carried down into the lower reaches of the burrows. The 

 figures from the Lindenmeier site certainly show that the " animal 

 burrow argument " against the authenticity of finds in low levels has 

 been considerably overemphasized. 



Trench A, the completed one, did not exhibit as many complicated 

 features in its upper or shallower sections as did trench B. Neverthe- 

 less, there were several worthy of comment. The dark, artifact-bear- 

 ing stratum disappeared toward the end of section 4 and did not ap- 

 pear again until the work had penetrated into section 9. The soil 

 covering over the tufaceous base had been removed by some agency, 

 presumably wind, prior to the deposition of the upper layers. Despite 

 evidences of a small stream channel cutting across sections 6 and 7. 

 the erosion does not seem to be attributable to water action. The top 

 of the clay bed gave more the appearance of a wind-scoured surface. 

 As a matter of fact the bottom of the trench followed across the sum- 

 mit of a ridge in sections 5 to 9. This ridge had run at an angle to the 

 line of the present valley and is quite apparent in the bank of the ravine 

 down stream from the pit where trench A cut into the gully. Test 

 holes were sunk in the floor of the trench in these sections to make 

 certain that the black stratum did not go below the clay and that the 

 latter was actually the top of a ridge and not a lens laid down subse- 

 quent to the deposition of the specimen-bearing layer. The few arti- 

 facts and stone chips found in this part of the trench were lying di- 

 rectly on top of the basic stratum. As a further check on the situation 



