Unit 4850
Category: layer dug in 1999
Area: South
Interpretive Categories: stabling
Data Category Information: Description: penning; Deposition: heterogeneous
Dimensions: 3.22m+ n-s, 3.15m w-e, average depth 0.15m
Discussion: 'Stabling' deposit equivalent to (4710) / (4715) / (4716) to east, all removed as one unit. Contained a number of groups of bone (X.2 and X.4) and the articulated skeleton of a neonate / stillborn ?sheep X.1 and possibly X.3. There was no evidence that these were buried in cuts, they were probably just covered by thin spreads of material.
Recognition: distinct orangey colour / thin bands
Definition: deep sounding / wall / arbitrary
Execution: trowel
Condition: moist
Consistency: soft
Colour: mixed - bands are orange, light to mid grey, light to mid greyish brown
Texture: mainly clay
Bedding: compound layered
Inclusions: frequent phytoliths, occasional bone / obsidian / charcoal
Post-depositional Features: deep sounding, roots, burrows, wendy
Basal Boundary: faint, smooth, anthropogenic, sloping down at west end
Unit Stratigraphy (as recorded in the field):
Dry sieve volume: 1000
Total Deposit Volume: 1071
Number of Samples recorded by excavator: 14
Number of X-Finds recorded by excavator: 4
Number of Related Diary Entries: 2
Settlement Phase:
Associated Mellaart Levels (from Space):
Associated Hodder Level (from Space): Unassigned at present
| 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:: 292
Unit description: F 116 subsampled for ZooMS (DCO 2014) Unit 4850 was moderately large in size and consisted of dry-sieved material, three 4mm flotation samples and 4 distinctive groups of bones given X numbers in the field. The unit is described as a stabling deposit, although there is the strong possibility that several different contexts were included within this (the other half of the sequence was dug as separate units). The bone from the dry sieve is dominated by the remains of large mammals and the elements identifiable to species suggest that this was all Bos. At least two large cattle are represented (based on a size difference in a left and right astragali). The body parts that are well represented include long bone shaft fragments, ribs and the skull. Vertebrae are very low in number, one pelvis indicates that at least one of the cattle was a male and a first and second phalanx show the presence of lower limb elements. One scapula appears to have had a number of blows delivered to it on the medial side, almost opposite to the spine. The bones from these animals were all fused, but one fragment of a molar shows no wear, possibly suggesting that at least one of the animals was a young adult. Very few bones are burnt (ca. 1%), dog gnawed and digested bone are absent and there is no significant weathering suggesting that this material was not left exposed for long periods. Although some elements are complete (the astragali and phalanges), the rest of the bone is made up of fragmented bone, possibly as the result of marrow extraction. Also represented in the dry-sieved material are a few fragments of an adult caprine, a young pig phalanx 3 and a number of young caprine bones. Most of these young sheep/goat bones appear to come from two neonatal animals of slightly different sizes, although there is also one metapodial from slightly older caprine (may correlate with group X3). The neonatal bones are generally complete long bones and probably represent parts of the articulated caprine skeletons labelled X1 that were initially lifted before it was realised that they were articulated remains. An additional group of slightly larger neonatal bones seems to be in between the sizes of animals represented in X1 and X3 and could be a further neonatal skeleton. Also within the dry sieved material was a deciduous premolar from caprine which dispayed very high wear and the roots were almost completely resorbed. This may well be a shed tooth, which would be consistent with the interpretation of the unit as a stabling deposit. The group of bones labelled X1 appears to be two articulated neonatal caprine skeletons imbedded in matrix identified as stabling deposit. These are the same smaller size of neonate and the presence of two animals is shown by two left femurs, two right humeri, four ulnae, tibiae and radii. These are relatively complete skeletons, which suggests that the skeletons were not disturbed much and must have been quickly covered with further deposits of the stabling material. The proximity of the bones and the fact that they are the same size indicate that the two neonates had very similar birth times and also died at a similar time These bones were recorded as separate elements despite the fact that the bones come just two animals but it is impossible to determine which bones articulated with which. Records for the bone from this group are X1 and F144-175. Group of bones X3 is from a slightly older caprine, again much of its body is well represented and is even more complete than skeleton X1. Duplicate elements indicate that X3 and X1 cannot be parts of the same individual. Furthermore, the size of the bones from X3 suggests that it was slightly older at the time of death. A dp2 and dp3 from this animal show that it was sheep rather than goat. Some intrusion of Figurine Records: Yes
Count of records::none Ground Stone Records: Yes
Count of records:: 1 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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