| Entry: | This last week has been very productive, namely concerning the construction phases of buildings.
At the end of last year Matt and I found a large phytolith deposit within space 118 building 68. As Matt would say, muchos grandos phytolithos. I refer to this deposit because in yet another building we have the same sequence, more phytoliths butting the sides of the walls of the buildings, sealed by primary floors, Within these abundant phytolith deposits 15704- space 298, and 15703 space 297, the latter more prominent, Roddy and I have found many X finds, broken gypsum crystal, worked bone, obsidian, and last year part of a quern.
There is a case to be said that as these deposits were sealed by priamry floor layers, it is possible that these items were deliberately placed. Possibly items retained from the lower building, mixed with current construction material, and preserved just under the new floors, Sealing the transition phase.
However it could just as easily be concluded, that the large pytolith layer was the remains of reeds that were dropped during the construction of the roof, they could even have acted as a temporary floor, and the other items retrieved were construction material. We found evidence of burning in this wall and roof building phase. This would make sense as today, the next construction that goes up after the walls is the roof, then you can get the wife to design the kitchen, while you get stuck into a nice game of backgammon and chai.
Today another important piece of construction evidence for room 65. Clear indication that the building had been preplanned and knowledge of depths of midden below were already known.
This building has been built on room infill and various midden dumps. This was used to level off a clear construction level. The north part of wall 2514 was built directly on room infill. The centre part was cut into the room infill and stepped for a course of brick. The construction cut for this wall is 15725, and deepens to the south and west, which happens to be below a midden. Further evidence of this was found when an earlier midden was clearly seen to be cut, bricks and mortar placed within this cut, then backfilled by a mix of the midden material. A section photo of this can be found on Jasons database.
We will continue excavating the middens, walls and room infills within 65 and hope to soon have a brand new building which no-one has seen for thousands of years, AND THAT’S THE BEST PART OF THE JOB!Entered By: Charlie Newman |
