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General
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Excavation was today divided between Unit 18311 and Unit 18314. Of the latter I was mainly involved with the removal of room fill and the cleaning of profiles.
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Unit 18311
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Unit 18311 continues to reveal interesting finds. The step hypothesis seems to have ascended again, based on the careful excavation of the interface area between Unit 18310 and 18311. A large chunk of red plaster was seen to be resting against the northern end of the step, while sherds of pottery were equally pressed against this installation. ER observed that the installation consists of, from the eastern side to the west, mortar-mudbrick-fill-mortar-mudbrick. Discussing these issues with IF later we have both entertained the idea of Unit 18311 (and, therefore, Space 342) representing a pottery-production area. This theory is compounded by finds removed from Unit 18311, including worked ceramic sherds (possibly used as paddles), two fragments of basalt 'ash tray' pigment-preparation objects, and recovered lumps of haematite and ochre. IF has further suggested that the two pot bases (recorded as Unit 18315) may represent turning/shaping plates for pots.
SRW continued the excavation of this area in the afternoon. Earlier, anticipating the possibility that we would reveal a floor while excavating 18311, it was decided by ER to create a metre-square grid. This was abandoned following the decision that Unit 18310 was indeed a step feature. Further exploratory excavation in the SW pit of Unit 18311, in order to reveal a 'window' on the stratification, indicated a possible second step abutting the Northern wall and Northern buttress.
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Unit 18314
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In relation to the exciting finds recovered from 18311, 18314 appears sterile. How the residents managed to create such a 'busy' fill in Space 342 and not in Space 343 escapes me. Perhaps potters are less tidy than most. Who knows.
In any regard, the afternoon involved the removal of fill from Unit 18314 and a degrading-orbit for our sieve-mesh. After days of punishment the thing has worn through. This resulted in half an hour of flailing and wheel-barrow related solutions on our part, though the crisis ended once a new sieve was looted from somewhere. Within the final 30 minutes JFB recovered a human tibia embedded into the 'buttress' (?) feature of Unit 18314. This has received preliminary cleaning and preservation measures in anticipation of excavation tomorrow. JFB suggested that this tibia may have been associated with the scapula recovered yesterday, to which PFB observed that the fill recovered above this one last year was indeed filled with a variety of bones.
Nevertheless, PTW, JFB and I have cleaned 18314 to a satisfying arbitrary level, opening the possibility that recording can be executed early tomorrow. The discovery of the human tibia in the Northern section will, of course, slow matters, yet I believe it would be fruitful to section this area off and to work 'down' within the southern area of Space 343. My hopes remain, however, for a transfer back to Space 342. I have been tasked by IF, at least, to observe the fill for lumps of unfired clay mixture with a view to determining the function of this area further. |
