| Entry: | Today JJW and AH continued digging down what appears to be part of a pit located between the cut of grave 2420 and the W profile using unit 16878. While its S edge cuts into the EC roomfill S of 2420, the pit itself was cut by 2420. It contained four articulated animal vertebrae together with very worn stray human bones such as a scapula part, a lumbal vertebra and a rib.
The pit identified as 16874 yesterday disappeared after DEL and SO had started to dig it down, so we decided to further isolate the grave in the W profile using another EW profile at 686,20 and taking the area N of grave 2420 down in a spit called 16879.
MB, JMR and KJK started taking out as unit 16861 what seemed to be just a vast but shallow distubance cutting into both space 340 and 341. However, at the end of the day, neat lines of bright orange mudbrick appeared, so the pits 16819 and 16837 might well have been some kind of looting attempt to dig that grave.
Stray human bones all over the place give the humans remains lab a headache, but the soil we are moving at the moment is simply heavily disturbed.
Having TEB caring for the unit sheets is a real relief, so I have time in the afternoon for things like looking at the washed potsherds or creating a preliminary matrix for T7 (which I finished today). PFB felt sick today, ad a group with M. Parker Pearson and J. Pollard as visitors at the trench. During my journey last year on my visits to excavations I realized how big a difference it makes if you are shown a plan of the excavation area or not when wou are guided around. RBW's daily sketch proved a handy tool in this respect, too.
Digging the West Mound actually must be done in a well-timed way. Some of the features are indiscernible when freshly uncovered, become clearly visible when half-dry, and - as it is the case with wall 5057 that is the E wall of space 341 - virtually disappear when completely dry. |
