TozzEB] EXCAYATIOX AT SAXTIAGO AHUITZOTLA, MEXICO 29 



Floor A. — Of the area included in the Main Structure there remains 

 to be described the highest floor (A) and its sustaining walls of stone. 

 The relation of this floor to Room I is best seen in plate 1, section e-f, 

 and plate 5, a,h. As has been pointed out, the ever-present stratum 

 of ash runs under this floor. Above this ash there are in turn a 

 narrow stratum of earth, a second layer of ash, a thick stratum 

 of earth, and a single row of adobe bricks, which comes under the 

 floor itself (pi. 2, sec. l-j). This floor originallj^ covered the greater 

 part of the space I have called the Patio, leaving a narrow space on 

 the north and south between it and the walls of Rooms III, IV, V, and 

 VI. The floor is supported on the southern and northern sides 

 and the southwestern and nortliAvestern corners by stone walls, 

 which Avere probably built on the former floor of the Patio. Worked 

 stones, forming the base of the wall, still remain on the northern side 

 (pi. 1,6), showing that the floor did not extend over Rooms V and VI. 

 The buttress-like stone construction (pi. 1, sec. e-f) on the western 

 side, near the northwestern corner, and duplicated, in all proba- 

 bility, near the southwestern corner on the same side, are built up 

 from the floor of Room I and seem to show that the highest floor (A) 

 was built at a time when Rooms I and II, together with the lateral 

 Rooms III and IV, were not filled in. It is impossible to account for 

 the fact that there is no stone wall in the center of the western side 

 of Floor A and it is difficult to understand the purpose of the angles 

 made b}^ the stone walls in the northwestern and southwestern 

 corners. 



Only a small portion of Floor A remains. The greater part was 

 destroyed by the former visitor to this site. Two layers of adobe 

 bricks, some of which measured 0.27 by 0.27 by 0.12 m., were found 

 in many cases still in place over the floor. The outer walls of the 

 room or rooms of which this floor is a part are not to be made out. 

 The floor on the western and northern sides runs to the very edge of 

 the stone wall beneath. Two breaks in the floor (pi. 1, 1, V ; pi. 8, &) , 

 with the characteristic upward slope of the floor itself, indicate two 

 pillars of adobe. A longitudinal break in the floor (2) may indicate 

 a former wall of a small room. The upward slope of the floor on 

 the western, northern (pi. 1, 8), and eastern sides of this small room 

 shows clearly that there was a wall starting from the floor itself at 

 these points. 



Floor A\ — Two small pieces of floor (A') high up on the wall of 

 earth left between the Western Terrace and the road (pi. 1, sec. 

 e-f) show that a floor at this high level formerly extended along 

 the western side of the site. The first thought is that this floor is 

 similar in point of time to Floor A just described. The former is 

 very slightly higher, however. The fact that Room I and a great 



