| Entry: | 15/08/2009
With periodic help from OMV (who also spent time in space 343), ER and PFB, a significant portion of unit 18328 has today been excavated. It would seem that, in keeping with the northward slope downwards of the upper extent of unit 18328, the lower extent of the unit - and therefore the (thus far undefined) unit(s) underneath - is also higher in the south than the north. ER identified a more compact layer several centimetres down into the north-eastern area of 18328 - which was suggested as a possible floor - and PFB identified areas significantly less deep into the southern area of 18328 (and therefore significantly higher than the northern 'floor' area) as more compact than the fill of unit 18328 and therefore also as possible parts of a floor. Whether both of these interpretations are correct (presumably with a sloping floor connecting the two), the higher (southern) floor interpretation is correct (presumably with the lower northern compact area the result of an overcut into the same floor), the lower (northern) floor interpretation is correct (with the higher compact southern area simply an area of heavy compacting in the fill, or neither identification of a floor is correct (with all thus far exposed areas being above any potential surface underneath) is currently unclear.
Nevertheless, there are two intriguing observations in particular that seem to suggest that unit 18328 is not just stratigraphically distinct but significantly different in nature to units above it (e.g. 18309, 18311) in the space (342).
The artefacts - most noticibly the potsherds - within unit 18328 appear significantly more uniform and horizontal in their inclination than those of higher levels (e.g. 18309, 18311). It is tempting to take this as suggestive of a reasonably flat layer (potentially a floor) upon which they fell and broke or were deposited - in contrast to the more varied inclines of sherds and other artefacts jumbled into room fill in the layers above.
There is also an apparent horizon of phytoliths and (to a lesser extent) charcoal and ash within at least the southern half of unit 18328. This is interesting because, while phytoliths have been reasonably common on the undersides of pottery and other artefacts within higher units (e.g. 18309, 18311) - where it seems conceivable that plant material has been deposited as a result of assosciation with the artefact, a phytolith layer within nothing but soil in its own right seems more securely independent. A reed mat - lying over a floor - has been very tentatively suggested as an interpretation, and this also allows understanding of the charcoal, ashy patches as areas of burned matting.
Also, as the day in the field was just minutes from ending, the skull of a (human) neonate was found underneath an enormous groundstone (18311.X?) with both having been pressed up against the southern wall of space 342's northern buttress (feataure xxxx). The assumption is that this is some sort of 'burial', and that the rest of the neonate will also be found in the same position. No separate fill around the neonate was immediately obvious, and it was observed that the neonate was in proximity (barely a metre horizontally and even less vertically) to the area where a neonate was discovered during the 2008 field season.
Tomorrow's work will involve continuation of the excavation of unit 18328, in an effort to clarify the situation in the space as regards floors. JFB will also move into space 342 to excavate, record and remove the neonate.
(entry TBC) |
