Feature 112
Feature 112 was located in the west-central portion of the property. The feature was identified during mechanical stripping as a dark organic stain with a moderately well defined oval outline. The feature was constructed using the house-in-pit style. The pit had been excavated through a cultural deposit that was approximately 0.17 m thick; an additional 0.03 m of the pit was dug into the red silt stratum. The long axis of the house was oriented nearly east to west with the entrance facing south. No walls were evident, but the floor displayed a slight lip along its southwestern corner. Haury (1976) described similar houses as S-1 in form.
The entrance was constricted near its junction with the house floor. The minimum width was 0.75 m and the greatest width was 1.15 m. The entryway was 1.15 m long and included a step. The riser was plastered with caliche and was 0.06 m thick. The step was narrow and tear shaped.
The floor was relatively well preserved except for six plow scars, multiple rodent disturbances, and an area where it had slumped. The slumping was evident around an animal burrow that had disturbed the feature after abandonment. Away from the animal burrow, the floor was level with only minor undulations. Evidence of burning was present in the floor fill, but the floor plaster was oxidized only in the entryway. Roof and wall fall were present above the floor in a zone of variable thickness. The burned roof and wall fall contained charred plant material that was localized near the northern wall.
The hearth, Feature 151, was 0.22 m in diameter and 0.16 m deep. Clay plaster extended from the relatively vertical sides of the hearth to 0.19 m beyond its edge, level with the house floor. The feature was located 0.50 m inside the house and was positioned directly in front of the entrance.
Nine possible postholes associated with the pithouse were observed, but were not excavated.
Since the rodent activity had, to a large extent, disturbed the floor. it was decided to bypass excavation of the postholes. The nine postholes were observed along the outside edges of the plastered floor and were concentrated on the northern wall. A narrow wall trench was present surrounding all but the southern wall; the trench varied in width from 0.10-0 30 m.A possible subfloor pit (Feature 159) was identified in areas where the plaster had slumped below the normallevel of the floor. Pieces of burned roof and wall fall were present inside the feature; ceramics from a potbust located on the house floor also had slumped into the depression. The depression had a very irregular outline and probably was an animal burrow that had been capped by the construction of Feature 112. Artifacts from the floor were incorporated into the animal burrow as a result of additional rodent activity that occurred after the collapse of the structure.Sediment from the floor was generally a mixture of caliche nodules and compact silt. A thin band of fine sand was observed in three units located just inside the entryway. This layer of sand probably represented a post- abandonment soil that washed into the structure before its collapse. The fine sand was located in the units that had the lowest artifact density in the floor fill; deposition of this sand layer by water might have resulted in some artifact movement away from the entrance.
Feature 112 appeared to form a potential courtyard group with Features 78 and 113; the potential courtyard has been described as Feature 122. The only other feature identified near the courtyard was a small pit capped with a shaped rock (Feature 18). Scattered floor plaster from Feature 122 was present outside of the entrance to Feature 112. The plaster was located at the same depth as the step from the pithouse. Comparison with Feature 18 indicated that the top of the shaped rock was 0.13 m below the step of Feature 112.