MYER] GORDON TOWN SITE 547 
a portion removed, probably by relic hunters. This fire bowl was 
smaller than any of the others found on the Gordon site. It was, 
as nearly as could be determined, 20 by 24 inches, and was filled to 
the brim with ashes. Some of these ashes can be seen near the 
shovel in Plate 122, b. 
TROWEL 
A mushroom-shaped trowel, made of hard-burned pottery, was 
found at F, Figure 155. This trowel is shown in Plate 120,c. It 
was not on the floor, but about 8 inches above the floor, in the loose 
rich black loam which filled the circle. Nothing else was with it. 
This trowel was probably used in smoothing domestic pottery. Its 
stem or handle has a small hole, one-eighth inch in diameter, which 
extends through its entire length, as shown by the dotted lines. 
When this trowel was fashioned a small cane apparently had been 
placed in the center of the still moist and soft stem, so that this cane 
would burn out in the fire and leave this cavity, which would aid in 
the more thorough burning of the thick stem. 
OTHER ARTIFACTS 
Two beads and a small discoidal were also found scattered through 
the black loam filling the circle. They are shown in Plate 120, d. 
At EF, Figure 155, 4 inches above the surface of the floor, in the loose 
black loam, was a broken celt made of diorite. After this celt had 
been broken the fragment found had been used as a hammer stone. 
It has been puzzling to find in Gordon town heavy objects like the 
pottery trowel and the diorite celt in the black loam some distance 
above the floor and also to find pottery fragments scattered all 
through this loam, with more fragments at the top, just beneath the 
grass roots, than elsewhere. These objects must have been left 
lying on the surface of the original floor. They probably were 
gradually forced upward by the upward pushing freezing water as 
the black loam slowly accumulated. This freezing water often 
appears on the surface of the soil as minute upward-forced columns 
of ice. 
HOUSE CIRCLE NO. 20 
House circle No. 20 is 28 feet in diameter. It was not explored 
beyond opening the stone-slab grave of a child, which was discovered 
by means of a sounding rod. The coffin was 38 inches long and 11 
inches wide, inside measure, and ran W. 25° N. It contained the 
body of a child 6 years of age, lying on its back, extended full length, 
head at the west end.* To the left of the head was an upright 
nest of two small bowls and a biconvex discoidal. The discoidal was 
*® U.S. National Museum, Division of Physical Anthropology, No. 316085. 
