Unit 11109

Category: layer    dug in 2004

Area: North 

Interpretive Categories: infill 

Data Category Information: Location: building; Deposition: heterogeneous

Description: FAST TRACK 

Discussion: the excavation of this unit started from infill that covered a possible NW platform. It continued on the NE side of the room as well, trowelling slowly not to truncate possible plaster layers as we accidently did in space 234. We have been progressing slowly - some of it due to my worries and some of it due to the training taking place in the trench. The excavation of this fill took many days, and we have come across substantial differences in the texture and consistency of the fill.
To yje NW of the room the fill was more homogeneous and underneath it came out a surface that seems to belong to a platform. This surface is not entirely plastered, rather the basal boundary is defined by a phytolith and/or salt rich surface (but not to the extreme where it may have been remains of matting).
To the NE of the room the fill was more ashy and rubble rich, this continues towards the south end untill a bench like feature is come upon, abutting the southern wall. The western wall of the space just south to the platform revealed plaster lined features that had been heavily disturbed by animal activiity. Here the infill is clay rich; I believe that the scar which is seen in the middle of the western wall may not necessarily be a post scar, but the remains of a probable installation/relief that could have been on the wall (this area was originally excavated thought as a post-retrieval pit). This I assume due to the moulded pieces of plaster that was retrieved form this area - pieces that reached 20 cm2. The plster has a light greenish grey/beige colour and has a lot of chaff as inclusions, typical of the plaster used for sculpture. Some of the clay aggregates on the other hand was a rich reddish brown - similar to the clay used for sculpting purposes (comment made by Rissa).
The eastern side of the space has more burnt rubble in the matrix other than in other spots and again is very disturbed by animal activity, thus I have not been able to make much sense of it other than saying it is mostly collapse.
The southern end of the fill revealed an oven cut into the southern wall and a possible surface related to it. When this was uncovered we stopped excavating in this part of the area as there was also a fire installation in front of the oven more towards the center of the room that seems like a hearth. Also in this portion of the room we recovered a ridge that was probably used to separate this dirty area from the more cleaner portions of the room.
The northern end of the room east to the platform revealed some disturbed bins, collapse, and truncated floors. It was a very firm fill in this end, and was a challenge to excavate.
For full discussion of the features revealed through the excavation of this fill see feature sheets 1804 to 1826, plan 04/1207 and excavation diaries.

Depth and volume estimated in PX. Unclear how much of this unit (if any) was dry sieved (DE 2009) 

Recognition: Recognized as building infill that had a heterogeneous character full of rubble. 

Definition: Defined by wall on the four cardinal directions. 

Execution: Trowel, hand pick. 

Condition: Dry. 

Consistency: firm (mostly due to dryness) to strong in clay rich areas (SE and NE corners) 

Colour: light orangish rown to light brown, it is mottled when scraped due to the mixed nature of the deposit 

Texture: clay loam 

Bedding: massive 

Inclusions: plaster (10% - chunks from 2cm to 20cm), mud brick and mortar (10% - chunks from 2cm to 20cm), clay aggregates (10%), charcoal (5% - small pieces), ash (less than 2%), phytoliths (less than 2%). Very few artifacts such as bone and obsidian, one or two pot sherds. 

Post-depositional Features: salt growths, animal burrowing, root and insect activity. 

Basal Boundary: sharp; arbitrary in the central part of the room towards the E wall where we could not reach floor levels. 

Unit Stratigraphy (as recorded in the field): above: (Click to view the record) 11132, 11133 below: (Click to view the record) 11102 

Dry sieve volume: 0 

Total Deposit Volume: 400 

Number of Samples recorded by excavator: 1

Number of Related Diary Entries: 2

Settlement Phase:

Associated Mellaart Levels (from Space): Unassigned at present 

Associated Hodder Level (from Space): Unassigned at present 

Finds Room Information:

All material from site passes through the finds room for washing and separating before it is passed onto the various lab teams. The finds room keeps a basic inventory of what is found. A finds material type list is given here. Further analytical detail maybe provided by the Lab Team data below.

X Finds Material: nothing recorded  

Finds Material Stored: nothing recorded  

Lab Team Data

Please note the list below does not represent everything that might have been found in this Unit, but represents the datasets we have available on-line. Please contact us to obtain more information about this Unit.

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