Unit 2538
Category: layer dug in 1997
Area: North
Interpretive Categories: inter-building fill
Data Category Information: Location: between walls; Deposition: homogeneous
Dimensions: 167x 50 x 10(deep) cm.
Description: second type of soil mixed in, description included as main soil / second soil where both differ
Discussion: Dumps of fill in between two outside walls of houses, containing animal bones.
Execution: trovel
Condition: very cold
Consistency: moderately strong / weak
Colour: 10YR 4/3 or 4/4 (between) / 2.5 YR 5/4
Texture: silty clay (burnt some sand as slightly gritty ) / silt loam
Bedding: massive
Inclusions: almost no inclusions -a bone sticking out - some salt (white flecks) / no inclusions
Post-depositional Features: some salts / none
Basal Boundary: anthropogenic, sharp, distinct, wavy / antropogenic, wavy
Unit Stratigraphy (as recorded in the field):
Dry sieve volume: 10
Total Deposit Volume: 35
Number of Samples recorded by excavator: 2
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
| Related Photos: 3 (Opens as a group in a new window) | |
| Buildings: none | |
Spaces: (Click to view the record)
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| Features:: none |
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:: 39
Unit description: This unit was not scheduled for study in 2000, but CC requested that we look at it in response to a query of his. This description is based on a first look, not on the usual close study of each bone. If there is time before the end of this season, it will be properly studied. The unit is from Space 69 and is a between-walls deposit. These deposits are usually of great interest in faunal terms, partly because the preservation of bone in these areas is better than in the middens, and it is from the between-wall deposits that we have found what we are tentatively calling 'feasting deposits'. This deposit, however, is somewhat disappointing as a between-wall deposit. It is relatively small, with a high amount of pre-depositional fragmentation and battering (similar to that of a midden). There are two whole bones, however: one large animal thoracic vertebra (probably from cattle, as we rarely get equid this large) and an equid first phalanx. There are several long bone splinters (prime meat-bearing bones), from both sheep-sized and cattle-sized animals, including a young distal metapodial, and an adult distal tibia, both from sheep/goat. Some of the long bone splinters were broken for marrow extraction. There are several fragmentary parts from the upper jaw of sheep/goat. There have to be at least two different individuals represented, and no more than three. One or two of the individuals was quite young, with the deciduous teeth present above the permanent tooth buds. Upper jaws are not very valuable for consumption and are usually discarded at an early stage of butchery (cut off to prepare for getting at the brain or tongue). Nothing is burnt, nor is there any digestion or gnawing, unlike we usually see in a normal midden deposit. The bones are weathered and the surface condition is generally not good (average weathering stage 3) The flotation sample (Sample 1, flot 1134) is small-to-middling in size. Most of it is scrap, but there is a sheep/goat carpal and part of an unworn cattle molar. As with the dry sieved material, the bones are battered and broken. About 5% are burned at low temperatures, and about 1% are digested. (These are lower than one would expect in a normal midden deposit). In summary, this is not much like the between-walls deposits we have found elsewhere on site. This is more like a normal midden deposit; the bones are heavily processed (for marrow), broken and battered, mixed, and from several different animals. The bones represent both meaty and non-meaty parts, and both primary and secondary butchery. The only un-midden-like characteristic is that the amounts of burning, gnawing, and digestion are low. Therefore, this deposit was probably middeny material that happened to have been dumped between walls, where it was protected from carnivore scavenging. It does not seem likely to be from one event, nor even from one household. Therefore it is not a feasting deposit. It might be the result of one single dumping of material, but this material would have come from various places. NR 2001: Apparently it was recorded. Last number = 39Figurine Records: No 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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