webb] ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NORRIS BASIN 33 



in the bend is a fairly level plateau, sloping gently to the level of 

 Powell Eiver on the western side. On the eastern side the land rises 

 to a height of 50 feet above the river bed and terminates rather 

 abruptly in limestone cliffs, which are partially wooded, the larger 

 trees being mostly red cedar. Here in these limestone cliffs a number 

 of rock shelters and small caves occur. On the opposite side of the 

 river, on the northern and eastern side, is another cliff region which 

 has a series of small caves. The whole bend beyond the river is 

 surrounded by low, rolling foothills. The outstanding components 

 of this site are three mounds and a rock shelter located as shown 

 in figure 8. The central and western portion of the farm had long 

 been in cultivation, and the mounds had all been subjected to erosion 

 and the leveling process due to cultivation. 



Mound No. 1 



Mound No. 1 is about 40 feet above the level of Powell River, 

 which is about 1,000 feet distant to the north and also 1,000 feet 

 distant to the west. The mound lies in a pasture once cultivated and 

 was reported to have once been covered with stones piled on it. 

 These stone slabs had been carried away to permit cultivation of 

 the soil, and the mound had the usual appearance of an earth mound 

 much eroded by cultivation. It was about 40 feet wide east and 

 west and 50 feet north and south. The ground plan of Mound No. 

 1 is shown in figure 9. The mound was made of red and yellow 

 clays mixed with charcoal and ashes. In parts of the mound small 

 shell midden heaps were found. There was a distinct humus line 

 marking the original surface of the earth under the mound, which 

 showed that the center of the mound was 18 inches above the original 

 ground. 



Upon excavation a hard floor containing scattered post molds was 

 at once discovered. The arrangement of some of these molds re- 

 vealed a square structure 29 feet by 22 feet 6 inches, somewhat non- 

 symmetrically placed under the mound, but with walls very closely 

 following the cardinal directions, as shown in plates 15, a, b; 16, a. 

 The floor of the mound was burned hard in some places and char- 

 coal and cane were found on the south end of the floor. There were 

 a few fragments of pottery and burned bone scattered on the burned 

 areas of the floor. 



The outstanding features on the mound floor were Feature No. 1, 

 an ash bed ; Feature No. 2, a fireplace ; and Feature No. 3, a circular 

 depression arranged as shown in figure 9. Feature No. 1, an ash 

 bed about 25 feet long, 5 feet wide, and 18 inches thick, extended 

 east to west just north of the rectangular structure. The ashes rested 



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