Unit 21768

Category: Layer    dug in 2015

Area: South 

Interpretive Categories: Burial Infill 

Data Category Information: Location: cut; Description: burial; Deposition: homogeneous

Discussion: This unit consists of the infill of a double primary burial F.7407. The deposit is a compound of silty-clay (on the upper levels) and clay soil (at the bottom levels), varying from light brown and brown to grey and black. It is heavily burnt and patchy, containing a lot of plaster and clay aggregates. The southwestern corner of the cut, between 2cm and 15cm of depth contains charred fragments of animal bone and charcoal. At this level (15 cm), remnants of roots were observed in the northern and southwestern edges. From 20 cm downwards, the sediment becomes very compact, consisting on pure clay, which required more trowel pressure for excavation and made it more difficult to keep exposing the skeletons without causing any damage to the bones. At this level, the cranium of a juvenile was almost entirely exposed. In addition, the deposit contained white organic residue (white/greyish stripes incised in clay) around the cranium of the juvenile and on the bones, which was inferred as possible remains of a burial basket. A special phytolith sample of this soil was collected.

This burial contained two skeletons, both lying in the same level of the infill: one of an articulated juvenile in the southeastern portion of the cut, in an overall good state of preservation and oriented towards east; and another of an articulated neonate in the northwestern corner, oriented towards south, however in a poor condition (the skull was particularly damaged).

It is important to mention that it was hard to understand if the two interments were part of the same deposition event or if they belonged to two different burials, because the southern border of the cut was not clearly defined during the whole process of excavation. The fact that both skeletons were found lying in the same level of the burial cut raised two possible interpretations: (1) either they were part of the same burial event (double primary burial), (2) either there were two singular deposits, which could have happened simultaneously or in different moments. As the juvenile remains were lifted, we kept on excavating the southern side of the cut, trying to trace its upper part, defined by 3 fine layers of plaster in sequence, with brown make-up in between. Excavation ended up revealing one single cut, which made it possible to understand the burial as one deposition event for two individuals at the same time. 

Consistency: Firm to very compact (very compact at the bottom). 

Colour: Brown, light brown, grey, black. 

Texture: Silt-clayish (in the upper levels); clay (in the lower levels). 

Bedding: Compound. 

Inclusions: Charcoal, plaster and clay aggregates, salts, phytoliths, small pebbles (< 2cm). 

Post-depositional Features: None. 

Basal Boundary: Anthropogenic, sharp, distinct, smooth. 

Unit Stratigraphy (as recorded in the field): above: (Click to view the record) 21779, 21776 below: (Click to view the record) 21765 

Dry sieve volume: 0 

Total Deposit Volume: 55 

Number of Samples recorded by excavator: 16

Number of X-Finds recorded by excavator: 1

Number of Related Diary Entries: 0

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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