|
| Area: North |
| |
| Dug in Year: 1995 |
| Feature Type: fire installation |
| |
| Related Photo (Click to view larger version in new window) |
|
| |
| Location: Southwest corner of space 70/ building 1 |
| |
| Grid X: 1038.2 Grid Y: 1191 |
| |
1995:
The FI is a roughly irregularly (almost sub-triangular) shaped feature in the SW corner of room 70. It may not be an original feature of the room since the wall faces behind it are at least partially plastered. it is at a (currently) .. . .height above the floor. the flue or door if the FI is to the east.
The FI was excavated in quadrant and both N-S and E-W section were drawn. The layers filling the latest Phase of the feature are clear.
(1). On the floor of the FI (currently unnumbered) was a thin ashy layer. In places the lower part of this wax more compact and seemed like a subsequent surface thought may likely represent the burning of the interface between the tow layers. A thin, discontinuous spread of white plaster lay above this ashy layer
(2) this was in turn covered by a C. 5 cm thick deposit of mixed plaster and clay rubble./ This layer was found across the surface of the FI except against its southern edge where the lower ashy layer merger wit the upper one.
(3) this latter was similar in thickness and make-up to the lower one and represents a second phase of use within the FI. No plaster was apparent, but in the NW quadrant I attempted to separate the more compact fill (1155) - which may be the burnt top of the rubble below - from the ashier upper fill (1153) within this layer.
(4) Finally the FI was filled up with another rubbly layer containing bits of brunt brick and plaster to the N this may lip over the top of the surviving plastered face of the FI.
Less clear was the definition of the walls. It appeared in most parts of the feature except the NE that the fill layers stood up against a compact, mixed packing fill a few cm thick, and only scantily plastered. Against the south wall this appeared very mixed with chunks of daub and plaster but not layered. Against the western half these appeared to have 3 layers, however - 2 of mixed fill separated by a thin dark grey layer. These were removed as one (1132) and (1160) back to a better plaster face, almost continuous n the S wall and less well preserved on the N face where a black band also appears to run back into the structure of the FI. In the western face of the SW quadrant chunks of daub poke through the plastered face. In the same face of the NW quadrant a darker band of soil runs between the lower plastered face and an upper band of plaster tilting into the FI at about 30 degrees.
Where the FI wall leaves the line of the house wall and turns east the interaction is more confusing. A compact packing fill apparently inside the line of [1131] was removed as (1154) but no plastered face was apparent. Instead it stood against further compacted fill with small fragments of plaster above a layer of orange mud-brick (?) in turn above a dark ashy layer. These strata ran off to the N and may be linked wit the so-called 'rake-out' in that area. The ash may also run below the surface of the FI and this might define an earlier phase of its use. In general the compacted clay surface of the base o the I appears to peel away from the plastered wall which continues to go down, and indicates earlier phase of this feature.
On the NE face towards the opening of the FI the plastered face is again found but does not appear to extend down below this latest surface.
The nature of the facing is indicative of damage / disturbance which has caused the loss of some of the plaster and the apparent slumping forward of plaster in some areas (though this may reflect the shape of the dome of the FI); and /or of a piecemeal approach to facing and replastering the feature, seen especially in the extra layers f packing fill noticed in the SW and NW corners of the FI.
Description continued 1997 GML:
Sub-circular oven with high standing walls - no roof survived but almost certainly existed. The opening was on the eastern side but this changed orientation slightly in the later phase of remodelling. The later phase was mainly excavated in '95 and showed three reflooring episodes each associated with an ashy layer (possibly even four). These were preceded by an earlier phase with only one major flooring episode, over which lay some of the superstructure, levelled off in preparation for the later rebuild, and with stones packed into the opening to seal it off. These and some of the floors associated with the secondary construction were excavated in '96.
Discussion:
Sketch includes matrix.
GML 1997:
Several things to note about the long history of this oven - the repetition of re-flooring, always associated with an ash layer which might be the remnants of the last hearth except that it always seems to lie _under_ the floor, and in places where no floor lies underneath it. (e.g. 1186 - 1253 - 1254). It would not take much effort to remove it prior to re-flooring and perhaps then the ashy layer in a deliberate layer placed before re-flooring - acting as some 'cleaning' deposit such as an ashy layer directly underlies the primary floors of Building 1. The other thing is the re-orientation of the opening in the oven - in the primary phase it aligns to the blocked opening in wall F3 and may therefore not been visible in Space 71; similarly the re-orientation moves northward, facing more into space 70 when the access is now more blocked on the northern side (see sketch plan). It is interesting that almost all the re-floorings are associated with the oven rebuild which itself probably had two phases - a primary rebuild _on top_ of the original, and a secondary rebuild / relining of the interior. The whole secondary construction appears to be contemporary with current phase III, and was probably as external oven / outside the building. The primary phase itself is not an original construction of the building but a later addition.
2000 In Post-excavation in 2000 it was decided to sub-divide F11. The latest phase remains F11 but the two earlier phases are now F359 and F360 |
| |
| In situ Conservation: No |
| Lifted: No |
| |
| Feature Relationships: |
| above: (Click to view the record) 359 |
| abuts: (Click to view the record) 2, 4 |
| |
| Number of Related Diary Entries: 8 |
| |
| Conservation Recorded: No |
| Related Photos: 25 (Opens as a group in a new window) | Buildings: (Click to view the record)
| Spaces: (Click to view the record)
| | No. Of Units in this Feature: 26 (Click here to view unit list) |
|
