Area A and the A-C Trench

Area A was first excavated in 1975 and was selected as a major area for sampling plant remains from the fiber-rich deposits visible there in the edges of nearby holes dug by artifact collectors. The artifact hunters, in fact, had inadvertently protected part of Area A by piling up their backdirt there. Once the backdirt was removed, other looter holes were found and sides of these were cleaned up and used to guide excavation in a relatively undisturbed area. Two narrow trenches were dug and combined with the cleaned up looter hole exposures, resulting in the isolation of a rectangular block measuring 1.6 by 1.8 m (5.3 by 5.9 feet) known as the A Block.

The A Block was divided into two halves, designated A-West (Unit AW) and A-East (Unit AE). Each half was excavated by peeling off each lens visible in profile; the lenses were numbered sequentially from the top. At the end of the 1975 season, the upper section of Area A had been excavated. In 1976, the lower section was excavated in the same fashion until bedrock floor of the shelter was reached between 1.5 and 2.3 m beneath the surface (the natural floor sloped from back to front).

The Area A deposits were used as the primary basis for defining the site’s analysis units (stratigraphic zones) because the entire stratigraphic sequence was preserved in this area.

The A-C Trench was dug in 1976 to connect Areas A and C and provide a profile view of the structure of the shelter’s deposits from back to front. The A-C Trench measured 1.5 m wide and 4.5 m long and was excavated in three units measuring about 1.5-x-1.5 m (Units AC1, AC2, and AC3).