| Entry: | Now everything is changed! Sonya and Jason are better. Ayse is sick!
As Anne-Marie finishes o.s.4 in the "pit" in SE corner of space 86 (unit 2229) and we can see the N-S cross-section, it becomes doubtful that this is a pit at all. We have been treating it as a post-Neolithic disturbance, because it had been a presence in our area from the very beginning. In profile it looks more like a widespread (dipping down to the north) midden, rich in material (all Neolithic), very dark soft and wet.
Just west of this area in unit 2221, the edge of the "pit" that I thought I had defined yesterday seems on today's view and scrape to be only the edge of its more intense centre. Actually almost the whole unit (except for the SW corner) is soft ashy and midden-like.
To the north of unit 2229 in unit 2213 the same stuff covers the southern third of the unit.
In general the western and northern parts of space 86 are filled with the more "classic" beige hard bricky building fill and the southern and eastern parts are filled with softer grey midden. Today we finished (almost) removing the second arb layer of the bricky fill and "midden". This was drawn as a composite by Ivan. In the northern edge of space 86 Mira finished removing the bricky fill in unit 2223 that had been left high because we thought it might have been part of a platform. This turned out to be fill except maybe for an area of orange just west of the little N-S wall.
I was trying to define in 2221 what was the edge of the "wall" with its plaster. The plaster actually slopes diagonally down towards the west, not vertically as expected. It's also quite ephemeral. I still think that east of this is some kind of platform. As I scraped there - it's very hard and solid with burn lines and a small round center of burning against the north wall of space 86. Mira however doesn't think so - she thinks it is just fallen brick fill.
The plaster mass in the center of space 86 was given its own unit no. (2233). Mira and Miriam start to x-section it E-W 60 cm south of 2 m line. As it is cleaned and sectioned it apears that a small plaster "wall" emerges on its western edge running N-S. West of this "wall" the fill is definitely burned. The burned area (unit 2222) surrounds the white brick that has fallen from the main west wall of space 86. We are assuming for the moment that this plaster mass is a section of wall and plaster that fell inwards, and that the white brick tipped over intact. The nearby section of west wall has such white bricks.
The nearby post-Neolithic grave (2234/2235) seems to use this little N-S "wall" as its west edge.
The third post-Neolithic burial was cleaned today by Dusan (F. 152). This child's burial oriented E-W is dug into the double E-W wall that dominates the center of our area (southern wall of space 86). The child looks about 5 or 6 to me, though Bashak later in the day thinks it's more like 10. (Later after looking at the teeth etc. she modifies this view to ca. 6 years old). The child has a glass vial (Unguentarium) by its right ear, just like the adult in 2212/2211. The glass vial is identical in shape and size. There are 3 bronze/copper beads near its neck. A long bone pin broken in two lies by its left side (the fact that the two pieces lie neatly side by side suggests that the pin was deliberately broken and then put in the grave, since none of the bones are so disturbed). Dusan could not find any right lower arm. The interpretations of this fact abound: the rodents carried it down one of their holes, we have somehow missed the real edge of the grave, the child lost its arm (in what kind of ghastly accident/ritual one can only imagine) and thereby died........Today we removed the vial and bone needle for safety sake.
The second post-neolithic burial is removed (Jason and Kathy) in unit 2212. A round button (?) was found near the head. This is a fat disc with concentric circles incised, perforated in the middle. This reminds me that both the first grave excavated (2205) and the child's grave (F. 152) contained strange round discs in their fill that looked were coin-sized and made of a material that I could not identify at first. 2211 cut into soft midden of space 88 below where there are concentrated large animal bones. Jason resists the temptation to scoop these up in the grave fill.
Peter Andrews has now decided that it would be a good idea to sample our skeletons for DNA analysis to see if they are in any way related (we don't even know if they are from the same chronological period). So Bashak comes and takes a sample from this skeleton (F. 151).
Ivan starts to draw the second composite plan of space 86 at bottom of second arbitrary level of building fill. It still seems to us a more successful way to draw the units as parts of a larger composite by Ivan which can (if necessary) be broken down into smaller drawings if necessary. This way we use our skilled draughtsman more efficiently and maintain a standard record of drawings.
In the SW corner of space 86 (2230) I carry on where sick Ayse left off, removing fill south of the post-Neolithic grave (feature 150), and west of the little N-S wall that emerges from the main south wall of space 86. Here I come across a thick lense of white plaster stuff that has me very worried. It (like the little wall) had been cut by the grave (Feature 150). The so-called little N-S "wall" looks more like a plaster-faced retaining wall for a bench or platform in the area of this unit.
Rissa works on the Bukrania of space 89 according to Frank's suggestions. She takes out the two horn core fragments that lie north of the big bukranion. Our plan as of now is to take down the north half of this space to leave a section and a place from which to lift the giant's horns.
At the end of the day I have a poignant moment sitting by myself in the shelter writing this diary sitting on a sandbag facing the dead child lying in the grave, waiting to have his/her resting place destroyed by me. He/she looks so pathetic with that right arm missing and huge child's head too big for its body. Meanwhile I discover that in the afternoon breeze, our shelter sings on several notes through its metal pipes.
In the evening Shahina and Gavin give a great session on stratigraphy and the Harris matrix. I learned three things:
- the matrix is all about the chronology of depositional events
- the matrix distinguishes between placement by observation (above, below, same as) and placement by interpretation (contemporary with)
- walls are deposited before fill (cf. cuts).
I suppose admitting such things on this format (public forum) might lead to a loss of authority...Entered By: Ruth Tringham |
