Feature 21
Feature 21 was a pithouse located in the south-central portion of the property. The feature was first identified in the walls of Trench 14 and was visible in the profile as a somewhat thin band of cultural fill 0.04-0.05 m thick that met the sterile red silt stratum and formed a flat surface. A few sherds and lithics were scattered throughout the cultural fill. This feature was a house-in-pit. oval in shape, and had a long axis orientation of 105 · east of north. The floor measured 4.51 m x 2.08 m, with a total area of 9.08 square meters. Haury (1976) has classified similar houses as type C-3.
The floor was flat and rested on the red silt stratum. This surface had burned and was well compacted in the center and along the northern edge. Other portions of the floor were poorly preserved, probably due to rodent activity and historic plowing. The fill in the 0.10 m above the nondisturbed area contained burned daub and charcoal mixed with dark grayish brown ashy silt. The fill over the rest of the house contained a small amount of daub and trash mixed with a loosely compacted brown silty soil.No sidewalls, exterior postholes, or floor grooves were visible. A plow scar ran north-south across the floor, within 0.10 m of the hearth, and through the entry on the south side of the house. The western portion of the entry was still intact, however, and was 0.02-0.03 m higher than the rest of the floor. The entry seemed to be slightly offset from the center of the house. It was parallel-sided and lacked a discernible step.
One definite posthole was found at the western edge of the entry where the entry met the floor, and one possible posthole was detected approximately where the eastern edge of the entry would have met the floor. The fill in the postholes was the same as the general fill above the floor.
A basin-shaped hearth, Feature 125, was centered on the entrance and was situated 0.60 m infrom the entry. The hearth was plastered and well burned, in good condition, with a well defined collar extending from 0.03-0.09 m above the floor. The diameter of the hearth was 0.20 m and the depth was 0.07 m.No exterior postholes were found. Twelve interior postholes were situated towards the edges of the floor, with one at each side of the entryway. The diameters of these round postholes ranged from 0.07 to 0.24 m. Seven symmetrically placed postholes were considered to be main supports; these averaged 0.15 m in diameter and 0.23 m in depth. The remaining five postholes were considered secondary supports and averaged 0.12 m in diameter and 0.18 m in depth.
A subfloor pit (Feature 144) was found in the northeastern corner of the house. This circular pit was 0.50 m in diameter and 0.20 m deep. Several large sherds were found at the bottom, but no other artifacts were present.The area at the center of the house showed the most evidence of burning. The fill above this area included burned daub and a high percentage of charcoal. The floor in the center of the house was very hard and oxidized. The rest of the floor and fill above it showed little evidence of burning. This partial burning, and the distribution of whole vessels in the center of the structure, suggested catastrophic burning. Feature 21 was 0.50 m south of Feature 22 that was 0.14 m deeper than Feature 21.
Feature 22
Feature 22 was a square pithouse located in the south-central portion of the_property . The feature was first identified in both walls of Trench 14 and appeared as a thin band of cultural fill 0.04-0.05 m thick that met the red silt stratum, forming a flat surface. Another pithouse (Feature 21) was adjacent to this one in the trench; the two surfaces were at similar elevations and it was originally proposed that the area might represent the balIcourt reported to be located in this portion of Los Hornos (David R. Wilcox and Jerry Howard, personal communication 1988). Therefore, a test trench was placed perpendicular to the original trench and was located off of the eastern wall at the northern edge of the floor of Feature 22. This test trench was excavated to just above the floor, which was then troweled down to find the edge. When the floor turned out to be quite distinctive and only a few meters wide, the balIcourt idea was abandoned. Shell was noted in the fill above this feature in both profiles of the original trench, as well as sherds and lithics.This house was ahouse-in-pit type, square in shape, and had an axis orientation of 105· east of north, based on the position of the hearth since the house lacked a formal entry. The floor measured 4.7 x 4.65 m, with a total area of 21.855 square meters. This house did not fall into any of the house-type categories established by Haury (1976).
Although the structure had been constructed below the prehistoric occupation surface, based on its shape and internal posthole pattern, it is possible that it actually was a ramada rather than a pithouse
