Mound A
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.
Fig. 2
HARROUN SITE
41 UR 10
MOUND A
contour interval = 0.5 feet
shading indicates excavated area