OCCUPATIONAL FEATURES
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.
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.”