| Entry: | The last week has been very good in building 77, we have removed many of the smaller deposits in the upper sequence of room fills and both space 336 and 337 are beginning to take shape. Lisa has reached the floor at the southern end of 337 the store room, at a depth of 1.20m revealing cluster 16448 which included a hammer or grind stone and an articulated talon of an eagle sized bird, and has started to reduce the deposits in the two large bins in the north.
In space 336 several features have been exposed a ladder scar on the southern wall in the SE corner two engaged pillars on the eastern wall, the nature of the burning has meant many of the structural elements associated with these features are sill present in the collapse and as such may with a little patience be reattached. This includes what Mellaart referred to as a breast on the southern pillar on the eastern wall.
On the northern wall in the NE corner is a small plaster molding with what looks like the remnants of sheep horn built in the horn was broken off flush with the plaster, there is some talk of bring an x-ray device to site to see if it contains a skull. Below this is a small circular niche (not yet excavated), further along the northern wall at the center is a large crawl hole of alcove, once again this is yet to be excavated.
In the NE corner the removal of a heavily burnt deposit 16466 revealed our most exciting find to date, the beginnings of an in situ decorated platform with two pillars (plastered) at the top of which are two pairs of bull horns, all in very good condition. The placement of the horns defines the space as a special area cutting it off from the main room, such decoration of the NE platform was observed in several of Mellaarts buildings but the preservation was no where near as good. The excitement has now worn off and has been replace with the problem of excavating such a fragile and key feature of our building. |
