The only occupational features discovered at Mound C were the two house
patterns.
_House No. 1_
The lower house floor at Mound C, designated House No. 1, rested
directly on the old surface of the floodplain (Fig. 7). The floor zone
was a circular lens of dark gray—almost black—sand with a greasy
texture. It averaged 0.4 feet in thickness and measured some 18 feet
across. This floor zone contained numerous bits of charcoal and burned
clay daub, a few stone chips, mussel shells and garbage bones, and a
small number of artifacts.
Around the perimeter of the floor was a ring of post molds representing
the exterior house wall (Fig. 8). Average diameter of the ring was 18
feet. Each post mold extended downward below the floor level into the
sub-mound floodplain. The individual molds ranged from 0.35 to 0.75 feet
in diameter, the bottoms being from 1.3 to 2.0 feet below the floor
level. There was a total of 29 definite molds plus one probable mold in
the peripheral ring, and disturbances on the west and south sides of the
house appeared to have obliterated at least five others. The posts had
been set about 1.5 to 2.0 feet apart on an average. Time did not permit
vertical sectioning of all the molds, but several were carefully
sectioned and studied to determine the level from which they had been
dug. All began at the floor of House No. 1, none extending above that
level.
The large pothole observed in the top of the mound continued downward
entirely through the floor of House No. 1, although it had narrowed to a
diameter of less than four feet where it intercepted the floor (Fig. 8).
Unfortunately the pothole had destroyed the major portion of a centrally
located hearth that must have been associated either with House No. 1 or
the overlying House No. 2. Actually, there was probably a hearth for
each house, the later one constructed directly above the earlier one.
But since only a narrow segment of burned soil remained to mark the
eastern margin of the hearth (or hearths), the structural details could
not be ascertained. As nearly as could be estimated by the surviving
portion of the hearth, it must have been approximately three feet in
diameter.
[Illustration: Fig. 8
HARROUN SITE
41 UR 10
PLAN OF HOUSES NO. 1 & 2
MOUND C
post mold, House No. 1
post mold, House No. 2
post mold, House No. 1 or House No. 2
probable post mold
remnant of central fire pit
ash lens
disturbance
disturbance
pothole]
Beneath the pothole—which luckily terminated a foot or so below the
floor of House No. 1—were the bottom portions of two post molds (Fig.
7). These were undoubtedly from the center posts used during
construction of Houses No. 1 and 2. Although the exact circumstances
could not be reconstructed because of disturbance, the center posts
presumably were removed when the houses were completed and the hearths
placed over the molds.
In addition to the two center molds, there were two other post molds
within the interior of the houses at Mound C. One was just east of the
hearth area, the other was northwest of the hearth (Fig. 8). Both were
exposed in the excavation floor at the level of House No. 1, and since
they were not encountered above that level both probably relate to the
earlier house.
An extended entranceway on the west side of the houses was delineated by
an elongated area of organically stained soil and by two parallel rows
of post molds (Fig. 8). The stained area was clearly discernible in the
mound fill above both house floors. Despite extremely careful excavation
of this stained area, however, only the bottom portions of the post
molds—well below the floor level of House No. 1—could be seen.
Consequently the level from which the entranceway post holes were dug
could not be determined and it is uncertain to which of the two houses
they belonged. House No. 2 must have had its entranceway on the west
side because the organically stained outline showed clearly in the mound
fill well above the House 2 floor level. Possibly both houses had their
entranceways in this same area.
_House No. 2_
House No. 2 was represented by a distinct floor zone and by a circle of
post molds. The floor zone (Fig. 8) consisted of a lens of brownish sand
averaging about 15.5 feet in diameter, with a maximum thickness near the
center of almost a foot. It lay directly above the floor of House No. 1,
but was separated from it by a thin layer of clean, sterile sand 0.1 to
0.3 feet thick. The sterile sand layer was possibly placed over the
burned ruins of House No. 1 in order to provide a clean floor for House
No. 2.
The peripheral ring of post molds (Fig. 8) averaged a little less than
14 feet in diameter (or almost four feet less than that of the
underlying House No. 1) and lay entirely inside the exterior wall of
House No. 1. The two rings were not quite concentric, however, the
center point of House No. 2 being slightly to the west of the center
point of House No. 1. The post molds of House No. 2 were from 0.45 to
0.85 feet in diameter, and they extended from 1.6 to 2.0 feet below the
level of the related house floor. Several of the molds were sectioned
vertically to determine the level from which they had been dug. They
could be clearly traced from the floor of House No. 2 down through the
floor of House No. 1 into the sub-mound floodplain.
As was pointed out above in the description of House No. 1, there was
probably a circular, centrally located hearth associated with House No.
2, and one of the two center posts whose molds were found beneath the
hearth area must have been used in the construction of the later house.
There appeared to be no other interior post molds associated with House
No. 2. The entranceway was probably on the west side.