8 
straight rows, most of them being distinct, especially when freshly 
excavated and before the sand became dried out by the sun; but some were 
faint or scarcely noticeable. Posts of structures that had been superseded 
by others are probably represented by some of the fainter spots. Following 
out some of the rows of post holes beyond the refuse, by removing the sod 
and surface soil where it was mixed and disturbed by cultivation or erosion, 
other post holes were found where there was no perceptible refuse. 
Figure 1. Guest’s map of the site. 
Post holes extending through an ash layer between two layers of black 
refuse, with points extending about 5 inches into the sand below, as in the 
isolated group between skeletons 16 and 33 in refuse deposit 1, suggest that 
the posts must have been driven through the layers into the sand, as there 
was no sign of filling between the posts and any hole that might have been 
dug for them. On the other hand, if the deposit were formed around them, 
the posts originally were set only 5 inches or less in the ground. 
Most of the holes were about 3 inches in diameter, but some were up 
to 6 inches in diameter, the latter mostly in that part of the single row in 
refuse deposit 5. The depth varied, some of those in deposit 1 being from 
15 to 32 inches deep. They were from 3 to 24 inches apart and in some 
places farther. 1 Cross-sections of the holes showed that the bottom of 
the posts was pointed. 
The post holes of the palisade, as indicated on Map 1599, were found 
chiefly between the hill top and the swamp, extending around the whole hill 
‘According to Champlain (I, p. 132) the posts of the Iroquois ort attacked by him in 1615 were "not more than 
six inches apart.” 
