Besides the mound itself, two occupational features were found in the
Mound A area: (1) an area of burned soil within the mound fill (Feature
No. 1), and (2) a sub-mound burial (Burial No. 1). Each is described
separately below.
_Feature No. 1_
This was an elongated area of heavily burned, sandy clay lying within
the matrix of the mound fill (Fig. 3). Since the northern end of Feature
No. 1 was not completely excavated, the exact dimensions were not
determined; but the maximum length was evidently between 9 and 10 feet,
while the maximum width was 4.3 feet. The long axis ran approximately
north-south. Profiles revealed a lenticular cross section with a
pronounced thickened area near the mid-point of the east edge. Near the
center the burned zone was 0.5 feet thick; the thickened area near the
east edge reached a maximum thickness of 1.5 feet.
[Illustration: Fig. 3
HARROUN SITE—41UR10
PROFILE OF MOUND A
(ALONG N20 LINE)
dark gray, sandy mound fill
Feature No. 1
Zone IIb sand, sub-mound
Zone IIa sand
HARROUN SITE
41UR10
PROFILE OF MOUND B
(IDEALIZED SECTION THROUGH CENTER OF MOUND)
floor of House No. 3
central hearth
post molds
stump disturbance
humus
gray, sandy mound fill
whitish, sandy mound fill
undisturbed sub-mound soil]
The surface of Feature No. 1 was burned to a conspicuous degree of
hardness and was sharply demarcated from the soft, unfired mound fill
which overlay it. Beneath the central portion, heat had produced a thin
zone of reddish sand which merged gradually with the underlying grayish
sand of the mound fill.
Feature No. 1 was situated in the lower portion of the body of the
mound. It did not have the appearance of a carefully prepared hearth,
but the presence of clay in the burned soil suggests that an
irregular-shaped clay base had been laid down where the fire was to be
built. It appears that after a layer of sand about a foot thick had been
piled up to form the base of the mound, further work on the mound was
temporarily interrupted, a crude hearth of sandy clay was prepared near
the center of the basal layer of sand, and a fire of considerable
intensity was kindled on it. The hardness of the burned, sandy clay of
the hearth indicates that the fire was quite a hot one and that it must
have burned—continuously or intermittently—for a period of many hours at
least. After an unknown interval of time the fire was extinguished and
the construction of the mound was resumed and carried to completion. The
sharp definition of the hearth surface and the homogeneity of the mound
fill above and below the hearth indicate that no appreciable time
elapsed between the extinguishing of the fire and the addition of the
upper part of the mound fill: otherwise the surface of the hearth should
have shown evidence of weathering and the two different stages of mound
construction should have been visible in the profiles as separate zones.
_Burial No. 1_
Beneath the southeast quadrant of Mound A a single burial was found
(Fig. 12, A). The skeleton lay in extended, supine position, with the
head to the northeast and the feet to the southwest. Preservation of the
bones was poor, and several of them (including the left femur, most of
the arm and hand bones, the lumbar vertebrae, and the foot and ankle
bones) had been destroyed or displaced by gophers whose runs interlaced
the entire burial area. As a result of this disturbance the original
position of the arms could not be determined.
Two pottery vessels—a carinated bowl and a bottle, both of the type
Ripley Engraved (Fig. 12, B-C) had been placed beside the left hip as
burial offerings, and an arrow point of the Perdiz type (Fig. 15, O),
lying near the outer side of the left knee, appeared also to have been
included intentionally with the burial.
The first evidence that a burial was present was the discovery of
several foot and ankle bones in a rodent run in square N10-E0. The
burrow was traced toward the north for several feet where the distal end
of a human tibia was exposed in the northeast corner of square N10-E0.
Since it was apparent that the major portion of the burial lay in square
N15-E5, that square was taken down. At 0.5-foot intervals the floor of
the square was scraped clean with trowels and carefully examined for
evidence of a grave outline. However, none was detected in the mound
fill.
The burial was finally exposed at a depth of 3.6 feet below the surface
of the mound, the floor of the grave lying at an average depth of 1.0
feet below the base of the mound. A vague area of discolored soil (which
contrasted faintly with the surrounding undisturbed IIb sand) marked the
location of the lower portion of the grave. The edges of the burial pit
were quite indefinite, having been considerably disturbed by roots and
rodents, but its appearance—both in flat plan and in profile—suggested
that a shallow grave about a foot deep and just large enough to
accommodate the body had been dug from the floor of the shallow
sub-mound pit, the body had been placed in the grave, and then earth had
been heaped over both the body and the shallow pit to form the mound.
The skeletal remains from Burial No. 1 were examined by Dr. T. W.
McKern, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, The University of Texas. He
has kindly provided the following statement:
“The skeletal material from Burial No. 1, Site 41UR10, Upshur County,
Texas, consists of one skeleton in a state of poor preservation. Not
only are the bones highly fragmented but not one, including the skull,
has escaped the destructive teeth of rodents. The brain case is complete
but the entire face is missing. Only parts of the mandible are present
including both left and right molars (3rd not erupted) and a lower left
2nd premolar. The lower left dentition is _in situ_. No single bone in
the postcranial skeleton is anatomically complete. Also, due to the
young age of the remains, most of the epiphyses are missing.
“So far as possible, metric and morphological observations were taken
and recorded. But because of the incomplete nature of these
observations, they will not be reproduced here.
“The skeleton is that of a 14 year old male with a cranial index of 82
(brachycranic). Although the cranium is slightly distorted there is no
evidence of artificial deformation.
“For pathology, the teeth show very little wear which is consistent with
the observed age. One pronounced cavity was found on the
mesio-disto-occlusal surface of the lower left 2nd molar.
“Because of the almost complete lack of knowledge concerning the range
of physical types for the prehistoric populations of Texas it is
impossible to associate this skeleton with any known Indian group on a
strictly morphological basis.”