Klv. Bas. Sur. 

 Pap. No. 35] 



HOSTERMAN SITE — MILLER 



149 



it gradually blended into the steep sides of a gully, thus surrounding 

 the major portion of the occupation area. On the surface it appeared 

 as a shallow trench almost 20 feet wide and of various depths. The 

 greater depths were found in the northern section ; the eastern section 

 displayed the shallowest. 



Selecting a place where the ditch was the deepest, we cut a 10-foot 

 trench not only to cross-section the ditch but to detennine if any 

 remains of a stockade still persisted. Six-inch levels were main- 

 tained at all times. The trench walls exposed four distinct humus 

 zones ; the uppermost averaged 0.4 foot in thickness and incorporated 

 the grass roots of the present ground cover. Underlying this was a 

 layer of sterile loess 1.2 feet in thickness. Beneath this was a second 

 humus layer 0.5 foot in thickness. This in turn rested upon 1.6 feet 

 of sterile loess, and beneath this was the third humus zone, which 

 averaged 0.3 foot in thickness. Underneath was a very thin zone, 

 0.2 foot in thickness, of very fine silt, which rested upon a deposit of 

 midden 0.4 foot in thickness. Beneath the midden layer was the 

 earliest humus zone, which measured 0.3 foot in thickness. This 

 humus rested upon a 0.3 foot zone of sterile loess, which in turn 

 covered 1.2 feet of laminated silts deposited in the original bottom of 

 the ditch as constructed by the inhabitants of the site (fig. 27) . 



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 Figure 27. — Cross section of the fortification ditch, Hosterman site. 



