ARCHAEOLOGICAL FEATURE INFORMATION
Feature 113
Feature 113 (no plan map available) was located in the west-central portion
of the property. The feature was first identified during mechanical excavation
of the area as a concentration of artifacts. Shovel scraping around the
artifacts enabled identification of the northern extent of the feature;
the southern edge of the feature was exposed in the profile of a septic
tank pit.The feature probably was oriented with its long axis east-west
with the entrance facing north. The structure was built in the house-in-pit
mode and appeared to rest on the red silt stratum. No construction pit was
visible because the surrounding fill had been mixed by modern plowing. The
entrance was identified only after mechanical excavation had destroyed most
of it; the portion that remained was a thin band of caliche adjacent to
the northern edge of the feature. Disturbances prevented a complete view
of the feature; however, it appeared to be similar to the form described
as S-1 by Haury (1976). The floor had been disturbed by recent plowing;
four wide plow scars were identified cutting through the floor. The eastern
and western edges were probably truncated by more plow scars. Portions of
the floor had been moved by the plowing and were found above the floor fill
mixed with the roof and wall fall zone. The southern edge of the feature
had been cut by the construction of a modern septic tank. Rodents had further
disturbed portions of the floor.The remaining segments of the floor exhibited
a caliche plaster with evidence of burning. The western segment was characterized
by a hard floor, high charcoal density, and burned artifacts and apparently
underwent a more intensive burning. Where undisturbed, the floor was level
and overlain by a fine-textured, non-compacted cultural fill. Roof and wall
fall were abundant above the floor and were mixed with charred construction
materials; up to 0.20 m of burned roof and wall fall were present. Plowing
had introduced fragments of the floor into the roof and wall fall zone.
The hearth associated with the pithouse was a shallow (0.02 m) depression
of burned earth capped by a fragment of disturbed floor . No definite edges
were visible and the soil from within the hearth was identical to the surrounding
matrix. Four postholes were evident inside the structure, but disturbances
to the floor obscured any additional postholes. The few identified subfeatures
were not in any recognizable pattern. The average diameter of the postholes
was approximately 0.15 m. No wall trench was visible outside the plastered
floor.
The presence of oxidation on the structure floor, in situ artifacts, and
the amount of burned roof and wall fall suggested that the house had burned
catastrophically. In particular, the burned artifacts from the floor supported
the idea that the structure burned unexpectedly.