| Entry: | Building 49
Space 335
I was back on site today after a couple of days absence. Building 49 is progressing well, and our aim of completely excavating the occupation sequence by the end of the season still seems possible, if by no means a certainty.
Colleen has been removing a series of platform surfaces, make up and associated burials on the NE platform F1664. The last of the make up layers (16634) has almost been removed and appears to seal two small grave cuts. Once these possible graves have been excavated the building will be in a new phase, representing one of the earlier phases of building occupation. Today the plan of this new phase was started as graphics number 08/605.
In this new phase an oven, F4003, recessed in a niche in the SE corner of the building appears to have been in use. Originally I thought this oven was in use in the previous phase however it now appears that hearth F1665 was in use until now. Units (14470) and (14499) appear to represent an earliest phase of the hearth, that was missed in the 2006 season. Therefore several of the ‘dirty’ floors associated with oven F4003 may have been in fact associated with hearth F1665. A series of dirty floors in front of hearth F4003 appear to be associated with its use, but may run under the construction of platform F4007 to the east,
At the western end of the building the SW corner appears to have been a sunken storage area in this phase. In NW corner a low, and badly truncated, platform was used as an activity area, possibly associated with food preparation. A plaster basin F4010 consists of at least two phases, the earliest and larger of which has a quern stone set into its southern side. To the east of the basin an area of charcoal is associated with a series of dirty floors. In the NW corner platform F1664 now consists of only a low raised area, several centimeters above the central floor. Platform F1651 is still a large and dominant feature in the room, and traces of red paint on the eastern vertical face indicate it was painted red, for at least part of this phase. |
