During the spring of 1946, a deep stratigraphic trench was excavated at Copan, Honduras by the Carnegie Institution expedition. This trench, dug about 200 m. south of the Acropolis and just west of the old Copan River channel, revealed a complete sequence of the site's ceramic activity, this extending back well into the Archaic period. To make certain that no earlier deposits lay nearby, I made a survey of the old river bank in the general vicinity. The spot finally selected for investigation lay only a few yards south of the eastern end of the stratigraphic trench. Here the river had cut through a low mound and had exposed, underneath, a considerable depth of refuse deposit. The lower half of the river bank was obscured by a clay and dirt talus fallen from above, and so a vertical section, about 5 m. wide, was cut into the bank.