218 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuLu. 185 
the north end, and a single depression occurred at about the midpoint 
of the ridge. The features, each encircled by a doughnut-shaped 
ring of earth and boulders (frequently dislodged), appeared to be 
man-made constructions, although the only superficial evidence of 
human occupancy of the entire area consisted of one shell fragment. 
EXcAVATION PROCEDURE 
The five boulder-filled depressions noted at the Joos site were 
excavated and plotted according to individual 5-foot grids oriented 
on magnetic north, and the area in which they occurred was mapped 
and sketched, in mid-August 1952 (fig. 35). The first excavation, 
designated XU1, was made in the depression near the midpoint of 
the ridge; the depression was labeled Feature 1 (F1). Excavations 
were then carried on in the cluster of three depressions; the area was 
called XU2 and the depressions were labeled Features 1-3 (F1-F3). 
Lastly, the single depression at the south end of the ridge was opened. 
This area was designated XU3 and the depression area was labeled 
Feature 1 (F1). In each case, the stones were carefully removed from 
the depression, and the silt filling the interstices was passed through 
screens of 84-inch mesh. 
SErrLEMENT FEATURES AND BURIALS 
The five small circular or oval, earth-and-boulder ringed depressions 
excavated at the Joos site, the only “settlement features” discovered 
at the site, are described in outline form below. 
FEATURE 1 (F1) in XU1; fig. 36, a. 
Shape: Small, circular; diameter of depression, 8.2 feet; maximum width 
of encircling ring, 2.1 feet. 
Depth: 1.35 to 1.75 feet, measured from a straight-edge laid across the tops 
of the boulders in the surrounding ring. 
Fill: Random boulders, and an upper stratum of buff-colored wind-blown 
sand (0.3 to 0.8 foot thick) and a lower stratum of dark sand (0.85 to 
0.95 foot thick). The latter was underlain by sterile shale, which was 
excavated to a maximum depth of 1.45 feet below the sand. 
Contents: Three body sherds, waste flakes, an animal bone and four animal- 
bone fragments, two lots of decayed charred wood, and one lot of finely- 
divided charcoal. 
Other features: None. 
Preservation: Fair; some of the boulders in the ring appeared to have 
been displaced by grazing animals and slope wash. 
FEATURE 1 (F1) in XU2; fig. 37, a. 
Shape: Small, circular; diameter of depression, 7.4 feet; maximum width 
of encircling ring, about 2.2 feet. 
Depth: 2.0 feet, measured from a straight-edge laid across the tops of the 
boulders in the surrounding ring. 
