Type: Storage Pit
Dimensions
Length: 2.7 ft
Width: 2.4 ft
Depth: 2.1 ft
Volume: 13.61 ft3
Area: 6.48 ft2
by H. Trawick Ward
Feature 17 was an almost circular pit located within Structure 9 at 233.5R77.5. It measured 2.7 ft by 2.4 ft in plan view and was 2.1 ft deep. In profile, the pit was barrel-shaped with walls that sloped slightly inward at the top and bottom. The pit fill consisted of three zones. The upper zone (Zone 1) was about one foot thick and contained dark brown loam with charcoal. Scattered throughout this zone, there were also pockets of orange-yellow clay. Beneath Zone 1 was a thick (1.1 ft) layer of gray ashy soil (Zone 2) which extended to the bottom of the pit. This soil was loosely packed, damp, and contained a large number of animal bones and artifacts (e.g., glass trade beads, lead shot, charcoal, a clay pipe bowl, a case knife, an ember tender, stone and pottery disks, numerous potsherds [including part of a Fredricks Plain jar], a hammerstone, a chunkey stone, stone flakes, and chipped stone projectile points). This storage pit had been backfilled in at least two episodes of refuse disposal.