506 PREHISTORIC VILLAGES IN TENNESSEE [ETH. ANN. 41 
At the building of the temple, when the black loam surface soil 
was removed down to the clay subsoil in order to obtain a hard floor, 
after filling cache pit 27, they raised over it a low platform, 17 inches 
above the remainder of the clay subsoil floor. This is shown by the 
17-inch layer of black soil found under the clay fire bed. On this 
raised earthen platform was spread a layer of clay, brought from 
elsewhere, and mixed with cane stems with leaves attached. This 
formed a fire bed. That this layer was not part of the plastered 
wattled wall, fallen in when the building was burned, like that found 
at space 24-25, is proved by the fact that the surface of the fire bed 
is not sharply rough and uneven and lumpy like that on space 24-25. 
It shows signs of smoothing and wearing down, caused by the raking 
away of ashes and the other wear of long use as a fire bed. It was 
not burned as hard as the clay in the altar. What remained of it 
after its long wearing down varied from one-half to 21 inches in 
thickness. The soil underneath it showed the effects of fire to a 
depth of from 1 to 244 inches. The burning of the light, plastered, 
cane-wattled wall would not have been Jong enough continued to have 
affected the underlying soil to such a depth. 
On the dotted area 24-25 was found a low, irregular, rough, lumpy 
layer of hard-burned clay, which contained the impressions of cane 
stems with the leaves attached. This had every appearance of being 
a portion of the old clay-plastered wattled wall, fallen inward when 
the building was destroyed by fire. 
CEREMONIAL Frres AT THE Four Woritp QUARTERS 
At 8, 13, 14, and 15, Figure 123, were found traces of small fires. 
At 8 was a large fragment of log, 12 inches long and 4 inches in 
diameter; lying diagonally across this was the charred fragment of 
another log, 24 inches long and 5 inches in diameter. 
At 13 were found the remains of a single fragment of charred log, 
about 8 inches long and 4 inches in diameter. It was lying at an 
angle of about 25 degrees in a large bed of loose black earth, in which 
was a large number of small fragments of charcoal. This loose black 
earth showed traces of the action of fire. ; 
At 14 two fragments of charred logs, each about 20 inches long 
and 5 inches in diameter, were found, one lying diagonally across the 
other. 
Two similar-sized charred logs, one lying across the ‘other, were 
found at 15. 
There were no large beds of ashes at any of these four points such 
as would arise from fires in continuous operation at the same point 
for a long period of time. Neither did the soil under these piles of 
charred logs show signs of long-continued heat. Everything pointed 
