Unit 22661

Category: Skeleton    dug in 2015

Area: North 

Interpretive Categories: Primary 

Data Category Information: none

Description: Skeleton of female, aged 20-30 years old, tightly flexed with an extraordinary amount of organic material preserved by a burning event in the house soon after the individual was buried. 

Discussion: Skeleton of female, aged 20-30 years old, tightly flexed with an extraordinary amount of organic material preserved by a burning event in the house soon after the individual was buried. Part of knee still attached to wooden bowl (22641.x1) after it's removal.

Preliminary analysis of samples under a microscope by D. Fuller reveals that sk. 22661 appears to have been tightly wrapped in a combination of spun flax yarn (linen) and animal hide. Coarser woven cords made of a different plant fiber that was not spun were also tied around the body, radiating out from a knot under the left arm near the individual's back and radiating out toward her flexed arms and legs. A wooden bowl was also found between the individual's chin and knee, with her right wrist resting on top of part of it. In addition, a large amount of vitrified soft tissue from the deceased was preserved, especially around the neck, legs, and feet. In the pelvic area, fecal matter seems to have been preserved withn the colon itself, while the gluteus maximus muscle aso may have been preserved in situ. Both were photographed and sampled fo further examination. A great deal of hide, cord, and textile were found around and behind the right foot against the wall of the cut, suggesting that excess material may have been wrapped there. Rodent burrows disrupted parts of the burial, removing the entire left foot and ankle, most of the left hand and wrist, and depostiting an unburnt infant spinal element into the fill. A strange gravelly, gravelly, chalky/plastery deposit about 10 cm wide surrounded the wrapped body most of the way around from behind the right shoulder to in front of the chin. A large black bead (X2)was found near elements of the right hand, tucked near the left side of the mandible. It may have been associated with the wrapping of the body since a great deal of textile was found around and under the face, or it may instead have been some element of personal adornment.

Preliminary analysis of samples from D. Fuller (6/8/2015):
-S3, S5, S2 - all spun flax yarn (linen)
-S4, S6, S19 - some kind of coarser plant fiber - woven, not spun
-S21 - not plant, burnt vitreous mass, probably flesh
-S20 - skin or hide, probably animal (as expected) 

X and Y of Targets: Target A - X: 1041.2; Target A - Y: 1188.54; Target B - X: 1040.82; Target B - Y: 1188.96; Target C - X: 1041.17; Target C - Y: 1189.2; Target D - X: 1041.6; Target D - Y: 1188.84 

Body:  

Head:  

Right Arm:  

Left Arm:  

Right Leg:  

Left Leg:  

Other comments: Bones are effectively "baked" a dark black color by fire in the surrounding house. Flesh and other material wrapped around the remains have left a shiny black residue on many bone surfaces. Excellent preservation. 

Surface Modifications:  

Unit Stratigraphy (as recorded in the field): above: (Click to view the record) 22662 below: (Click to view the record) 22641 

Number of Samples recorded by excavator: 35

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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