Mound A, the smallest of the four mounds, was situated 75 feet south of
Cypress Creek and 100 feet west of Mound D (Fig. 1). It was roughly oval
in shape with the long axis running due east and west (Figs. 2 and 11).
The length at the base was 35 feet; the basal width was 28 feet. The
maximum height above the modern floodplain was approximately two feet.
No potholes or other disturbances were evident from the surface.
After several trees and bushes had been cleared away, the Mound A area
was staked on a grid of 5-foot squares. A stake near the base of the
mound on the south side was arbitrarily selected as the base or 0-0
stake, and the designations for the other stakes were determined by
measuring their distance from the base stake in terms of the cardinal
directions. The elevation of the ground surface at the 0-0 stake was
assigned an arbitrary value of 100.0 feet, and all vertical measurements
for the entire site were keyed to that point.
As an initial test, most of the southwestern quadrant of the mound was
excavated to undisturbed sub-mound soil so that two radial profiles were
left standing, one running south, the other west, from the approximate
center of the mound. Since time did not permit complete excavation of
Mound A, the only squares excavated in the remaining three quadrants
were the three 5-foot squares cornering on the approximate center point
of the mound and square N10-E5 which was excavated in order to expose
Burial No. 1 (Fig. 2). Two additional 5-foot squares (N15-W40 and
S25-E0) beyond the limits of the mound structure were carried down
several feet below the surface of the floodplain. Each of the latter
squares was aligned with one of the two major profiles radiating from
the center of the mound. A 1-foot wide check strip, running east-west
along the N20 line, was left standing.
All squares were dug in 0.5-foot levels. Those squares in the mound
structure were leveled successively on each ½-foot interval of the
vertical reference system, while the two squares dug into the floodplain
near Mound A were dug by 0.5-foot levels measured from the surface of
the ground. All the soil from squares N15-W40 and S25-E0, and an
estimated 50% of the excavated mound fill from other squares, was
screened through hardware cloth of ¼-inch mesh. All digging was done
with shovels except for close work around Feature No. 1 and Burial No. 1
where trowels were used.
In the mound, horizontal plans were drawn to scale at 0.5-foot intervals
as the squares were leveled, all features, soil changes, and major
disturbances being recorded. Representative profiles were also drawn to
scale so as to provide a record of the mound structure and of the
relationship of the mound to the floodplain on which it rested.
The major profiles, the burned area near the center of the mound
(Feature No. 1), and the sub-mound burial (Burial No. 1) were
photographed in both color and black and white.
[Illustration: Fig. 2
HARROUN SITE
41 UR 10
MOUND A
contour interval = 0.5 feet
shading indicates excavated area]