MYER] THE FEWKES GROUP 573 
show evidences of long, heavy firing, and was not burned red. It 
was impossible to determine whether this metate and fire bed were 
in the House of the Mysteries or a room adjoining it, or just outside 
the house wall. 
POTTERY BOWLS 
Near 40 were found the two pottery bowls shown in Plate 128, a, b. 
One is 9 inches and the other 7% inches in diameter. They are of 
the usual baked clay mixed with pulverized shell and still retain 
traces of their original rich, lustrous black color. These vessels were 
upright, near the wall, and 6 inches distant from each other. They 
appeared to have been placed on a platform of earth or banquette 
which raised them about 6 inches above the level of the floor and 
were surrounded by a layer of mingled clay, ashes, and fine char- 
coal—probably the remains of the adjoining burned clay-plastered 
wall. The soil immediately around these two bowls was black and 
vite ritiet he EES harcoal 
POR eee 
LAW i 7 ne nies 
Aen [= Aine iy TS ehly gap gi shes 
mi cnn M1 
iM) Hh 
in ih De oe 
ISIE = 
Fia. 163.—Vertical section of fire bed 
full of humus. It is doubtful if this arose from the original contents 
of the vessel. 
FIRE BED FOR DOMESTIC USE 
At the southwest corner of the mound, at 4, Figure 156, was a 
large fire bed, 11 by 14 feet, which yielded a large amount of broken 
pottery and animal bones. It appeared to have been used for 
domestic cooking during all the various stages of the mound. A 
vertical section of this fire bed is shown in Figure 163, from which it 
will be seen that the old inhabitants began cooking at this point on the 
original surface of the soil. Then when the mound was raised to its 
first level this cooking bed was covered with a layer of earth. A bed 
of charcoal was formed upon this earthen layer by the smothering 
out of a fire thereon with another layer of soil. This brought the 
bed up to the second level, to which the House of the Mysteries 
belonged. 
When the mound was raised to its last or present level this domestic 
cooking bed was covered up with earth. It was then probably con- 
tinued in use as a domestic fire bed; but all traces of the last uses 
have long since been destroyed by cultivation. 
