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AMCS Bulletin 12 — Chapter 4 53segment of the path was essentially covered with apavement of sherds and small stones. A diverse assortmentof 180 sherds was recovered and ranged inage from Middle Preclassic to Terminal Classic. Althoughsherds from the Sierra group accounted for alarge portion of the lot, significant quantities of KinOrange-red and Carolina Bichrome Incised sherdswere present. Thirty-nine Sierra Red sherds withunslipped exteriors were recovered in this lot and(though no fitters were present) may represent a brokenvessel of this unusual variety. On the opposite sideof the eastern rock alignment was a similarly denseaccumulation of sherds (SJ2O1-12).Sub-operations 1 and 2 involve two small alcoves,which are located east and west of the entrance (respectively).Sub-operation 1 is a low, dry crawl spacewith a relatively dense scatter of well-preserved sherdsacross the floor (SJ2O1/1-1). Sub-operation 2 is analcove that overlooks the main chamber. A significantnumber sherds found atop its flat bedrock surface werefrom Early Classic groups (SJ2O1/2-1).As mentioned earlier, only a few sherds were scatteredacross the surface of operation 2 (lot SJ2O2-1;see table 4.1.11). An additional lot (SJ2O2-2) was assignedto those sherds recovered from the ledges ofthe shaft leading down into operation 3. The two chambersof operation 3 were collected as separate lots(table 4.1.12). The surface of the path through theantechamber was covered with Late Preclassic to EarlyClassic sherds (SJ2O3-1). Only five sherds were foundin the mine room itself (SJ2O3-2).The votive offering in operation 4, which containedthe conch shell fragment, was point-plotted andcollected (SJ2O4-1; table 4.1.13). The surface of thepath leading to the mine pit was collected as two separate,judgmentally established lots that could probablybe combined (SJ2O4-2 and SJ2O4-3). Together, 179Table 4.1.16. Actun Toh operation 7.sherds were found across the surface of the path. Datafrom both transects and dispersed lots suggest that thedistribution of sherds across the surface of the cavetend to cluster along paths.The surfaces of the intersecting paths in operation5 were collected as three separate lots (SJ2O5-9,SJ2O5-10, and SJ2O5-11; table 4.1.14). The 165sherds scattered across the paths range in age fromMiddle Preclassic to Late Classic. The point-plottedvotive offerings, which were located atop the shelvesin operation 5, were collected as lots SJ2O5-1, SJ2O5-3,SJ2O5-4, and SJ2O5-5. The densest concentration ofsherds observed in Actun Toh was located atop thedebris mound between operation 5 and the floor inoperation 1. I suspect that the sherds became aggregatedinto the mound as various materials (i.e. rocks,soil, etc.) were collected, transported, and piled in thislocation.The condition of the sherds located along the westernhalf of operation 6 lends support to the idea thatthe pool at the bottom of the room has been obscuredby the periodic deposition of waterborne sediments.This sloping portion of the cave contained a numberof tiny, polished sherds (SJ2O6-7 and SJ2O6-8; table4.1.15). Many were recovered from small, dry plungepools (within which sherds and small stones weretumbled by silty, fast-moving rainwater). Sherds collectedfrom the surface of the debris pile (SJ2O6-5)adjacent to the pool are likely associated with ancientpool maintenance episodes. It should be noted thatsherds from this mound ranged in age from MiddlePreclassic to Early Classic. However, it is not certainwhether or not such activities ceased at the close ofthe Early Classic. An interesting deposit of sherds(SJ2O6-9) was recovered from a low crawl spaceabove and to the west of the slope in operation 6. Thesewell preserved sherds, which range in age from MiddlePreclassic to Early Classic, are likely associatedwith the debris mound in operation5. The crawl space appears to have atone time emerged into operation 5, but wassealed-off (from above) by the creation ofthe debris mound. While in the crawl space,I extracted three sherds from the basalmatrix of the overlying mound. These werecollected as a separate lot (SJ2O6-9/1) andinclude Sierra Red and Carolina BichromeIncised types. This suggests that the initialactivities that resulted in the creation ofthe debris mound occurred no earlier thanthe Late Preclassic (and quite probablysometime during the Early Classic).The pit in operation 7 was divided into