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AMCS Bulletin 12 — Chapter 4 47likely occurred no earlier than the middle part of theEarly Classic. It should be noted that the altar couldhave been constructed independently of the terracedslope and may in fact post-date the Terminal Classic.Excavation unit C was located in operation 6 andis entirely unrelated to excavations A and B. As mentionedearlier, the purpose of unit C was to identifythe presence of the water table beneath the deep soilsat the lowest portion of the cave. The test unit (.5 mby .5 m) was excavated to a depth of 55 cm, at whichpoint it began to fill with water. Thin laminae of evaporateswere visible in the sidewalls and are the result ofwater pooling and subsequently evaporating from thesurfaces of successive infilling episodes. The sherdsrecovered from unit C (table 4.1.6) are not interestingbecause of their particular type or variety, but ratherbecause of their post-depositional condition. Sherdsappear to have washed down into this portion of thecave along with soil and pebbles. All sherds were suspendedin a fine, soft, loamy matrix. Overall, the sherdsrecovered from the unit are small (rarely exceeding2.5 cm in width) and exhibit evidence of smoothing,which is consistent with being in the path of movingwater. The larger clasts and sherds of the debris pilein operation 6 are likely the result of initial pool maintenanceepisodes while only finer sediments appearto have accumulated since.Surface TransectsThree surface collection transects (with 1 m-square units) were placed across the main chamber ofthe cave (see figure 4.1.13). Transect A was primarilyintended to provide a comparison between artifactdensity across the mound slope and an arbitrary sectionof the main chamber. No surface ceramics wereobserved within the four units located partly or entirelybeneath the entrance shaft, since this portion ofthe mound is obscured by a layer of forest litter. Thehighest density of material was located across thelower reaches of the mound slope (between A3 andA6) and consisted largely of Late Preclassic sherdsfrom the Sierra group (table 4.1.7). A diverse scatterof sherds was observed adjacent to A5. Therefore, thetransect was expanded laterally in order to recoverthe material, which included Middle Preclassic toEarly Classic sherds. Unit A6, at the base of the mound,contained a cluster of well preserved Early Classic toLate Classic polychromes. A number of sherds werealso recovered adjacent to the path. Based on transectA, the distribution of sherds between the path and thenorthern wall of the main chamber was sparse. Theunit at the northwestern terminus of the transect A(A20) was located within a small alcove and containeda relatively high density of sherds.Transect B was placed at ninety degrees to transectA and spanned the distance between operations 3 and4 (while partly including the latter). The two units tothe northeast of the intersection with transect A (B2and B3/1) crossed a possible path to the alcove andcontained a low density of sherds (table 4.1.8). Mostof the sherds recovered from transect B were associatedwith the surface of the path that crosses the mainchamber (for example B4). The three units that includea segment of the path into operation 3 (B10,B11, and B12) were empty. This was due to the factthat the surface of the entire path had been previouslycollected as two separate lots (SJ2O4-2 and SJ2O4-3)when the dispersed lots in operation 4 were assigned(see table 4.1.13).Transect C overlaps unit A1 and extends to themouth of a tiny alcove (sub-operation 1). The majorityof the sherds were recovered from the surface ofthe path along the eastern periphery of the mound.Nearly all of the sherds from unit C4 (table 4.1.9) werefound at the base of a bedrock shelf and along theedge of the path.Dispersed Surface LotsAs mentioned above, the ceramic material that wasnot recovered by the excavation units or transects wascollected by a series of dispersed surface lots (whichwere organized by operation). All the material, byoperation, is presented in tables 4.1.10 through 4.1.16.The following discussion includes only selected lots.The terraced slope of the mound was divided (byarchitectural feature) into thirteen areas (only sevenof which contained surface ceramics). In other words,much of the terraced surface was free of sherds. Anumber of sherds appeared to be eroding from beneaththe northern stairway and were collected in lot SJ2O1-1(see table 4.1.10). Interestingly, Middle Preclassic toLate Classic types were represented. The floor extendingfrom the base of the pyramidal structure wascollected as two lots (SJ2O1-9 and SJ2O1-10). Themajority of the sherds were found along the basal terraceriser and on the north side of the altar (where thesub-floor ballast is partially exposed). Most of thefloor’s surface was free of sherds and debris.The highest density of surface ceramics in operation1 was located northeast of the entrance (SJ2O1-11).This lot included the surface and borders of the paththat begins along the eastern periphery of the mound,passes between two stone alignments, and meets twosteps (before continuing on to operation 3). This