428 ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS—Ii [ETH. ANN. 44 
bottom was a deposit of black surface soil or muck in which were 
small dumps of gray clay and yellow subsoil. The gray was more 
abundant toward the western, the yellow toward the eastern side. 
In this deposit were occasional fragments of animal bones, pottery, 
and sometimes a pebble or spall of chert, jasper, or other stone. 
This layer was 2 feet thick at the center, thinner uphill, and thicker 
downhill, to compensate the natural slope and bring its upper surface 
to a level. It was strewn with a thin deposit of kitchen refuse, as 
if lived on for atime. Next above it was 3 feet of reddish or yellow- 
brown clay. This, in turn, had on its upper surface a layer from 2 
to 31% inches thick of rotted sod, the stems and roots of grass; lying 
on which was a layer of gray clay of the same thickness. Above 
this was 314 feet of material similar to that in the stratum at the 
bottom. 
It is clear from this arrangement that the first step in building 
the mound was to make a level floor with the mingled earth, mostly 
black, on the sloping end of the spur. On this, it seems, people lived. 
Afterwards it was covered with yellow-brown clay, which was not 
disturbed for a number of years, as is shown by the thickness of the 
old sod line. This was finally covered with a thin layer of the gray 
clay; and then the mound was completed with a thick deposit of black 
earth. There was nothing to indicate the reason for, or the purpose 
of, all or any of this later labor. 
After passing the assumed center, the black earth of the lowest 
stratum decreased progressively, with a corresponding increase in the 
amount of the gray, until toward the west side of the circular exca- 
vation the gray predominated, while at the northern and eastern 
limits the black had entirely run out and only the gray appeared. 
East of the center, and near it, a fire had been long maintained on 
top of this stratum, additional proof that it was a residence site. At 
first, a shallow depression was made and a fire kept in it, or perhaps 
many fires in succession; the earth below the bottom was burned red 
to a depth of 6 inches, the ashes of the last fires remaining in the 
pit. Sufficient earth had then been spread in the fireplace to bring 
it to a level with the surrounding surface. All this earth was also 
burned red and a bed of ashes 2 inches thick lay over and around it. 
From the general level to the lowest part of the heat-colored earth 
was about a foot. So it appears certain that the lowermost stratum 
of black and gray earth was piled up to make a level space to live on, 
although there were no postholes and indication that timber had 
been used. No surmise will be attempted as to the reason why all 
this trouble should be taken to make a foundation when there is level 
ground on every side, in the bottom land as well as on the bluff. For 
some equally occult reason, the site was coated with brown clay and 
the spot abandoned or neglected until much grass had grown on it; 
