Feature 19

Description

by H. Trawick Ward

Feature 19, a roughly circular pit, was located within Structure 9 at 234.5R87.6. It measured 2.7 ft by 2.6 ft in plan view and was 2.4 ft deep. At the top of the subsoil, the feature's edges were diffuse. The fill at the top of the pit was divided into three zones. Zones 1 and 2 consisted of small pockets of yellowish brown mottled clay and brownish yellow mottled clay, respectively. The bulk of the surface fill was designated Zone 3 and was comprised of dark yellowish brown loam. This zone was approximately 0.6 ft thick. It lay over Zone 4, which extended to the bottom of the pit. Zone 4 contained mixed lenses of orange mottled clay with pockets of gray to dark brown ashy soil. The bottom of the pit was lined with a layer of trash including half a deer antler rack, a hammerstone, shells, beads, pottery sherds, rocks, and animal bones. The feature was barrel-shaped in profile with walls that expanded toward the middle and sloped inward at the top and bottom.