Riv. BAS. Sur. es 
EW, Bo oT STAR VILLAGE—METCALF 93 
Partially overlying this cache was a fireplace, circular in outline 
and 36 inches in diameter. The shallow saucerlike basin was red- 
dened from burning, particularly in the center. In the mixed ash 
and earth which filled it were found a few fragmentary animal bones, 
two pebbles, and several angular fragments of granite. Three rather 
large postmolds were near it, those on the east and west being at the 
very edge of the hearth while the one to the south was less than a foot 
away. 
The history of this group of minor features is not too clear. The 
cache seems to be the oldest, although it may not be much older than 
the rest of the complex since its fill was no more compact than that of 
the borrow pit. It was cross sectioned by that feature and partially 
overlain by the fireplace. It was impossible to determine definitely 
whether the borrow pit was earlier than the fireplace, but since 
cleaning the fill from the borrow pit resulted in exposing the butt of 
one of the posts associated with the hearth, it would seem that the 
fireplace was the last of the three features to be constructed. The 
lack of evidence of water deposition in the fill of the borrow pit sug- 
gests that this feature was deliberately filled. Had the post butt 
been present when the borrow pit was excavated, it seems probable 
that it would have been removed at that time. 
Two smaller and shallower basin-shaped pits, irregularly circular 
in outline, were present in the east quarter of the floor of Feature 10. 
The largest measured about 4 feet in diameter, and both were filled 
with soil of the same color and texture as that filling the one to the 
southwest. These, too, are believed to be borrow pits from which 
earth was removed for covering houses. 
Feature 15 (jig. 12; pl. 17, 6) —Immediately east of Feature 1 was 
a low, but clear and distinct, ring-mound 22.5 feet in diameter. Since 
it was believed to mark a house site, the decision was made to excavate 
it in order to determine the floor plan of such a small structure. 
Excavation disclosed, not the expected circular house, but instead a 
subrectangular pattern of postmolds with one mold far out of line to 
the east and with one in the center. The line of molds indicated a 
structure 14 to 15 feet in width, 17 feet in length along the north 
side and 12 feet along the south side. These molds did not indicate 
the use of large posts, none of them measuring over 6 inches in 
diameter. A few of the smaller molds, such as would be produced by 
willow rods, were present, and in one the butt of such a rod was found. 
A fireplace in the extreme southwest corner was basin-shaped and 
6 inches in depth. It measured 26 inches north-south and 21 inches 
east-west. Three postmolds 4 to 5 inches in diameter were present 
to the east, south, and southwest of it at a distance of from 2 to 6 
inches from its rim, while the butt of a willow rod 2 inches in thickness 
stood some 6 inches from it on the west side. 
