Area D

A 1-x-2 m test pit, dug as two 1-x-1 m units (D-1 and D-2), was placed within a fairly deep looter hole early in the 1975 season to probe the shelter’s deeper deposits. The units essentially squared-off and cleaned back the looter hole and then continued downward. These units were dug in artificial levels 10-centimeters thick, an expedient method. (Most other units at Hinds Cave were excavated by natural stratigraphy.) While the arbitrary levels allowed relatively fast excavation, the horizontal levels cut across several stratigraphic layers, resulting in mixed-age samples. Nonetheless, Area D showed that the shelter’s deposits extended to at least 3.2 meters before the sloping bedrock floor was encountered. Perishable materials and coprolite lenses were sampled in the intact lower deposits.