Unit 4261
Category: layer dug in 1999
Area: South
Interpretive Categories: infill between walls
Data Category Information: Location: between walls; Deposition: heterogeneous
Dimensions: 4m strip n-s x 80mm width at top tapering up to 20mm at base
Discussion: Very ashy infill between walls 415 + 430 on an W-E alignment. Excavated post removal of 415 where in section the fill looked very mixed + mottled with no distinct deposition horizons. On excavation infill included frags of oven base + brick + the basal boundary against the western face was very irregular + came away from a very clean sandy matrix which might be another wall. In the section to the south the infill does show diffuse tip lines off differential deposit of similar material of ashy + bricky fills.
Continues south beyond l.o.e., to north diffuse change to fill (4369) prob postdates (4369) but relationship unclear because of nature of deposition which appears to be accumulation over time in gap between buildings + therefore probably slow accumulation or over time - general rubbish off roofs.
This fill was drilled in 1998.
Recognition: located between 2 walls, dark + rich in refuse between wall either side
Definition: a/a
Execution: trowel - voth in plan + from section, excavated as walls lowered either side
Condition: mostly dry + heavily disturbed by animal and root activity, heavily eroded too as exposed since 1965. Time of sampling very damp through overnight rain
Consistency: moderately loose
Colour: dark grey brown
Texture: sand, ash + silt (10;10;80)
Bedding: massive, although appearance is massive there are layers of more clayey deposits probably degraded brick frags (mid yellow brown sandy silt (20:80))
Inclusions: 20% small frags + flecks charcoal; 10% flecks phytoliths; 2% med-large + small bone; 5% small frags plaster; 1% obsidian; 5% salt frags + flecks; <1% hackberries; 2% small-med frags brick
Post-depositional Features:
Basal Boundary:
Unit Stratigraphy (as recorded in the field):
Dry sieve volume: 360
Total Deposit Volume: 393
Number of Samples recorded by excavator: 4
Number of Related Diary Entries: 0
Settlement Phase:
Associated Mellaart Levels (from Space): VII
Associated Hodder Level (from Space): Unassigned at present
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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 ArchaeoBots Sample Recorded: No Ceramic Records: No Clay Object Records: No Chipped Stone Records: No Conservation Recorded: No Faunal Records: Yes
Count of records:: 232
Unit description: F1 is a bone ring fragment. The dry sieve material was completely recorded and 4mm flotation sample #2 was recorded for diagnostics only. The faunal material from 4261, an ashy between wall deposit, is not as highly fragmented as the typical midden deposits and contains a considerably higher proportion of identifiable elements. The surface condition of the bone shows only slight weathering and evidence of digestion is low and a high proportion (c.50% of the fragments) had been burnt to low temperatures. The material is dominated by sheep/goat with the occasional element identifiable as pig, cattle and equid. All body parts of the caprines are present with perhaps a slightly higher proportion of lower limb elements compared to the major meat bearing bones. In addition to this, three bones from a medium sized bird and a dog canine were found in the material. A caprine MNI of 4 is represented by the astragali (including the one from the 4mm flot sample), some of these animals maybe from a feasting episode. This interpretation is based on the low fragmentation and the dominance of one species. Furthermore, complete vertebra indicate the presence of much of an unfragmented vertebral column between the cervical and thoracic vertebra which would also be consistent with a unit that contained material from feasting. Four of the cervical vertebrae came from the 4mm flot sample and were therefore not completely recorded but they are all fairly complete. A number of foetal/neonatal sheep/goat bones, presumably all from one animal, are also present. There is also the occasional infantile bone and some perminant teeth are extremely worn indicating that an old animal was amongst the debris. This shows that, although the caprines bones mainly seem to come from limited number of animals, there is a range of ages. Of the caprine bones identifiable to species, only one came from a goat. Overall the bone from this unit has fairly high integrity and could be a mixture of debris from a feasting event and other refuse from more daily activities. The pattern of burning does not appear random and many of the adult caprine or sheep-sized elements from the trunk region of the body have been burnt. The colour of these bones (the majority of them been brown) suggests that were all burnt to the same temperature for a similar amount of time. One possible explanation is that the bones from the torso region of an animal was dumped as the same time, possibly after a feast, and burnt. One bone point made from an unfused caprine metapodial and a small polished piece of rib were also found in the deposit. Last number = 1Figurine Records: Yes
Count of records::none GroundStone Records: No Heavy Residue Records: No Microfaunal Records: No
Sorry not all of this data is available online at present, please contact us if you are particularly interested microfauna recordsPhytolith Sample: No
Sorry not all of this data is available online at present, please contact us if you are particularly interested phytolith samplesDownload this Units Data
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