490 ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS—II [wri, ANN, 44 
Two of them are on the brink of a low cliff overlooking the stream, 
the margins not more than 5 or 6 feet apart. These two are in the 
form of a circular ridge of earth, like a miniature circus ring, with 
the interior space partially filled. The larger measured 30 feet across 
to the outer margin on each side and 22 feet across the center between 
the highest points of the ridge. The earth within varied from 12 
io 16 inches deep, according to its distance from the rim, being 
shallowest at the middle; the average was about 14 inches. The 
average inside level was 10 inches below the top of the encircling 
wall. It could not be determined whether this saucer-shaped floor 
was made so intentionally or whether it had been level and earth 
from the wall had washed down on it; probably the latter was the 
case. At first view it appeared to be such a heap as would be pro- 
duced by an earth-covered lodge with earth piled around the base 
outside as a protection against the weather; the material inside being 
due to the roof falling in when the timbers decayed. The entire 
mass was removed to the outer margin and to the subsoil. There 
was no sign of a posthole, no fire bed, no hard-tramped earth, nor 
any other indication that the site had ever been lived on, although 
in the body of the structure was found a considerable number of 
flint chips, spalls, and fragments indicating the manufacture of 
implements; mussel shells; pieces of charcoal; burned earth and 
ashes; pottery sherds, some of them having a curvature indicating 
that they were from vessels a foot or more in diameter. There were 
three distinct types of pottery—a coarse, rude make, poorly burned, 
easily crumbled, mixed with mussel shell coarsely broken, and burned 
to a bright red; a similar coarse quality with very little shell, burned 
harder but still not sufficiently solid to endure careless handling; 
and a more compact variety with finely beaten shell admixture, 
burned until hard and strong. Some of the pieces were smooth, as 
if the exterior had been rubbed and polished; some were from 
vessels that had been molded in baskets, and among these were im- 
pressions showing three distinct methods of weaving. There were 
also “cooking stones” and broken bones of animals, and a_per- 
forator 415 inches long made from the leg bone of a small mammal, 
one end having the joint surface intact. None of these objects were 
intentionally deposited, but were carried in with the earth, proving 
that a village site existed near by. But the surrounding area is now 
in woods, so that the surface of the ground is covered with leaves 
and vegetation, and can not be seen. 
As it was not a house mound, that is, the site of a wooden struc- 
ture covered with earth, nor the site of a house whose base was 
protected with earth—in fact, built upon a spot which had not been 
occupied at all—the only plausible explanation is that the “ridge” 
