Unit 23203

Category: Layer    dug in 2017

Area: South 

Interpretive Categories: Floor Layer with phyt., org. Mat. And pigment 

Data Category Information: Location: external; Material: occupation; Deposition: composite (floors/bedding/plaster/packing/occupation)

Description: Floor in an open area 

Discussion: This unit was exposed after remove the remains of the foundation of eastern wall of B-17 (U32680). Belongs to a floor which surface is orange on the top, and seems that this different coloration is not related with any kind of pigment. We exposed this floor directly below the foundation of the eastern wall of B-17 (U32680) but we also documented other remains of the same floor (U23214) in the SW corner of the building. Both extended below the walls of B-17 and seems that are in phase with the oven F8044, so we think that they are related with an open area Sp. 620 on which they build the B-17.
Regarding with the remnants documented below the eastern wall of B-17 the orange coloration was only preserved in the northen part, and was very thin, so we took a sample only for this (S2). The rest of the floor, even that was quite easy to follow had less presence of this orange surface and was more thick and layered in the south, with quite a lot visible remains of phytoliths. The color change a bit, was a mix between very light brown and white, so we took another sample for that part (S3). We assigned this unit as a priority to see if the specialist can give as more date to explain the function. Are remains of a penning area?? Can be this orange surface consequence of the exposure to the sun because it was an open area?? Hope than further analysis of the specialists can tell a bit more about this floor. Is also interesting that the areas where this floor is better preserves are where there were features above (a wall above U32003, and an oven and a platform above U23214).
Directly on the top of this floor we expose the remains of a fetal lamb (S4), a very round stone (X1) and also a cluster with clay objects and stones (U23226) that we think that can be foundation deposits for the construction of the eastern wall of B-17.

After the feedback from the specialists is still not clear the use of this floor and also not clear the reason for this “special” coloration on the top. From the botanical lab feedback seems that the last activity detected was the processing of “peel” nutshells and almond, so no traces of penning area. From the faunal lab, they clearly see two distinct layers, “S2 looks more like a floor deposit, but S3 looks like a heavily burned midden based on density”, which make sense with the way that we collect the samples. The S2 belongs to the very top of the deposit, and the S3 was probably including remains of the midden U23227, which was directly below this floor. 

Consistency: Soft 

Colour: Orange in the upper surface, very light beige almost white in the rest. 

Texture: Lime, salt, silt and clay the last three with less than 20 % 

Bedding: Layered 

Inclusions: Charcoal, phytholiths and small natural stones 

Post-depositional Features: salts, tranmpling 

Basal Boundary: Abrupt, smooth 

Unit Stratigraphy (as recorded in the field): above: (Click to view the record) 23227 below: (Click to view the record) 32680 

Total Deposit Volume: 45 

Number of Samples recorded by excavator: 10

Number of X-Finds recorded by excavator: 1

Number of Related Diary Entries: 0

Settlement Phase:

Associated Mellaart Levels (from Space): XI, XII 

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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