| Entry: | Very bearable day under the tent with good breeze going. Played havoc with the unit sheets, but at least it was less stuffy than usual; because otherwise dogs die in hot cars.
Started off the day taking back the profile of unit 13720, which conceals a cluster of large limestone blocks. After cleaning these (13721), it became evident that they marked the roof of a grave or tomb like structure. This was only proven further by the appearance of what appeared to be 'bricking' at the edge of the cluster.
After observing Tracey (13705) being lifted, had strange pangs of guilt. It was one thing cleaning him up with great care and respect, and cataloguing his position, structure and tooth absess, but another to lift him from almost 1500 years of rest and package him up in bubble wrap for storage. Will ponder this some more.
In the face of this unrest, I pottered over to offer my services on the total station, little knowing the horrors that would await. A good hour or so of "right a bit.. .. no no, left Helen. A bit more, a bit more ABOUT FORTY CENTIMETRES MORE!" followed during which Tom, Nick and I came to the conclusion that using the total station for stake out was never going to work. She is too old and knackered. We will use tape measure instead.
The afternoon bought a team effort of cleaning the North East corner of trench 5 with Jonathan and Katriona, providing much needed root removal. It was also nice to listen to how they approached their excavations in 2001 onwards, and how this differed from ours.
Many burials appear to be emerging, in both trenches, much to Peter's frustration. However, we cannot escape the fact that, although they may not be the Chalcolithic we are hunting for, they are a necessary part of the archaeology of the west mound to be studied and passed through before our goal. Deep stuff.Entered By: HSL |
