| Entry: | Today has been a good day. This morning I was finishing off the grave feature 2416, removing the remaining original fill from around where the coffin was placed (14260). This was packed full of far more finds than the collapse that filled the coffin itself, which was interesting. 6 more X-finds of coffin nails, and it was done, leaving a beautifully constructed brick-lined grave in pretty good condition with lovely walls showing in most places. After drawing the bricks (tracing from a diagram prepared by Frank from last years plan of the area, and the points plotted in this season to the total station), I spent a spell working with Ros and Naomi on the former baulk, taking out more of unit 14213 exposing another possible burial cut (14275). This one has a lot of tile and large lumps of pottery in it, but is also messed around a lot by animal burrowing. It could be a grave, but if so it extends out into last years trench as well, and the body must be a long way down - I would say it is an open issue pending further excavation and exploration.
In the afternoon, I was moved into the South of trench 5, and into the partially exposed building. Here Peter, Eva and I spent a while tracing lines in the soil and trying to work out where the walls were - eventually we think we defined a building, or room, with 4 walls defining a fairly small space. This is curious, and suggests that somewhere there must be a doorway or crawl hole into more rooms of the house. I'm quite excited about tomorrow now, as I will be taking out this room fill which is clearly packed full of juicy finds. This will also be exposing more of the first building in the trench which is cool. Eva says she wants to whet my appetite for next year by letting me at some chalcolithic stuff before I leave - no need; the appetite is already whetted.Entered By: Alex Pryor |
