Unit 32444

Category: Layer    dug in 2016

Area: South 

Interpretive Categories: Fill 

Data Category Information: Location: cut; Description: pit; Deposition: heterogeneous

Discussion: This layer was exposed after remove the first layer of the floor (U32404), the colour of the infill, brownish and a bit darkness than the floor plaster, define the extension of that layer. The layer was light brownish and with charcoal as more important intrusion, was a bit loose, so quite easy to remove. Was a layer completely clean composed mostly for clay and silt and with a few very small natural stones. The only remarkable element in this infill was the presence of animal bones, just four deposit close to the edges of the pit. The elevations of each one of this bones are: H1 930.5078 969.6044 1005.6076; H2 930.2908 969.2451 1005.3654; H3 930.2090 969.1236 1005.4574; H4 930.0628 968.9195 1005.5472.
We didn’t x find or give it a cluster number, because in that case the bones were less and small and the position was not that clear like in the other pits documented in the same space.
After the lab analysis the animal bones specialist conclude: Main bone in this pit fill was an aurochs pelvis fragment - the ilium and the ischium at the acetabulum and parts of their respective shafts. There is some potential staining on the surface of the acetabulum that may be pigment, according to the conservation lab, but would require further sampling and testing to confirm. There is also a small fragment of aurochs metatarsal that has some evidence for either arthritis or a bone infection on the distal end of the bone (broken before getting to condyles so can't assess fusion status, though probably fused).
A different with the other deposits in that building the phytoliths are very abundant mainly single cells but also some big silica skeletons. Assemblages eis a mix of elongate psilate, elongate echinates/dendritics, bulliforms and wood.

So, all the specialists conclude that the pit was opened and fill quite fast, in a very short period of time, probably around later summer early autumn, and that the bones was intentionally deposit. So all this information match with our interpretation, about that pits can be an abandon deposits. This unit is related with three more pits F7831, 7832 and 7833, all of them interpreted as an abandon deposit pits.
Finally we want to notice that the U32412 documented on the floor U32404 had almost the same extension and position that this unit. For us was clear that there was at least one layer of floors between this two units, but for the characteristics of both and mostly for the position we thing that both can be related and connected in some way, even that could not manage to see the relation in the field. 

Consistency: Compact 

Colour: Brownish 

Texture: Clay and silt 

Bedding: Massive 

Inclusions: Charcoal (around 5%), natural stones, plaster, bricks (all of them less than 5%) 

Post-depositional Features: Salts 

Basal Boundary: Abrupt 

Unit Stratigraphy (as recorded in the field): above: (Click to view the record) 32454 below: (Click to view the record) 32404 

Total Deposit Volume: 9 

Number of Samples recorded by excavator: 5

Number of Related Diary Entries: 1

Settlement Phase:

Associated Mellaart Levels (from Space): IX 

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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