Unit 32070

Category: Layer    dug in 2016

Area: North 

Interpretive Categories: dirty floors 

Data Category Information: Location: building; Description: general; Material: occupation; Deposition: multiple

Discussion: A layer of dirty floors which was placed in SE part of the Sp.531allong the S-wall F.3679 must be regarded as the deposit whose accumulation had been mainly related with the simultaneous use of oven F.7732 as well as the hearth F.7871. The latter implies that the presented sequence of ash and charcoals immersed in multiple micro-lamination of silty-sand must have been repeatedly laid and accumulated there for some time. The concurrent layers had been already excavated in W-part of the room where they were assigned under separate unit no. 32071. However, they did not share completely the same characteristic.
Presented here the eastern segment of the dirty floors composed exclusively of ash and charcoals and there was no evidence of any surface coated by white plaster nor proper make-up layer that continued in wider scope. All of the laminations that were recognized within the unit were divided by thin horizon comprised of sandy-like grains. In the most eastern part of the mentioned area there were also some thicker components recorded that most plausibly could be related with immediate activities aiming to make even the concave surface. For that reason one may bear in the mind that sediments collected from that segment may contain more mineral (heavy) residues concerning flotation samples.
In order to better understand and conceive the nature of the activities undertaken in the described occupational phase there was decision made to excavate the extensive layer (as well as underlying ones) by the use of the GRID. Accordingly, within the area restricted by the S-wall (F.3679) and E-wall (F.7736) as well as the Bench F.7871 (to the North) and oven (F.7732 to the West) there was set arbitrarily net of squares (1m x 1m). The main axis of the Grid was established along Southern wall (F.3679) of the building, whose EW alignment positioned the further division of the room.
The latter strategy implemented a change in the method of exploration which mainly focuses on sampling process that bears consequences in collecting two samples from each of 1m x 1m square. One of the sample is taken specifically for Phytolith analyzes. For that purpose we decided to enumerate the botanical samples using ODD digit numbers (e.g. 3,7, 9, 11). All of the rest part of the explored sediment within squared meter would be taken as flotation sample, enumerated conventionally by EVEN digit number (e.g. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10). The excavation of the layer as well as assigning the subsequent numbers of samples stared from SE corner (for better conceiving the idea see Unit sketch).
The diverse thickness of the deposit was probably caused by the process of accumulation and involved with that specific trends. That is why the area situated closer to the southern wall demonstrated denser proportion of the material and consequently it was thicker (than the Northern one). Within the mentioned vicinity there was clear division recognized that allowed to distinguish two major subsequent layers (earlier and later). Namely: the upper part of laminated dirt-deposit was more compact probably due to intensive trampling. As a consequence that particular segment was easy to differentiate and it had been explored with the use of individual set of samples taken : S.1 - S.6. Under the upper layer there was for instance construction / rim (U.32098) of hearth (F.7871) identified which amplified even more the decision of division. As regards the dirt-deposit below it shared general resemblance within all over the Southern area. Hence, the exploration of the sediment was again undertaken according to the grid, which resulted in collecting the samples from each square meter (S.7-S.18).
Samples no 17 and 18 they were collected from make-up layer that is why they may contain considerably less material.
An additional two samples no.: (19 and 20) refer respectively to: (a.) archive protocol and to (b.) 2 animal bones that were not articulated, however they were found next to each other and according to faunal specialist (Jessie) they represent one toe with clear evidence of basal deposition apart from missing elements. That is why the described faunal material may be regarded as a good (secondary) sample for C14 dating of the horizon of occupation related with the use older oven F.7732.
The excavation of the dirty floors stopped after revealing white plaster layer (U.32704) along the southern face of the Bench F.7879. The mentioned floor surface did not extended in the whole area due to diminishes caused by a wear of use in the past however it marked distinct level to finish exploration of U.32070. 

Consistency: friable, loose 

Colour: dak-grey, mid-black 

Texture: silty-sand, ash 

Bedding: compound, layered 

Inclusions: asch and charcoals - 70% 

Post-depositional Features:  

Basal Boundary: arbitrary 

Unit Stratigraphy (as recorded in the field): above: (Click to view the record) 32704 below: (Click to view the record) 32015 

Total Deposit Volume: 78 

Number of Samples recorded by excavator: 21

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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