| Entry: | Over the last few days JMR has been taking down space 310 slowly in order to expose any cultural surface that may be present. Today JMR began recording the elevations in space 310, having stopped excavating at unit 18348, suspected to be a surface. Feature 3315 is very enigmatic as the construction of what appears to be mudbrick (in the section) and plaster, protruding from the eastern wall 3314, has stirred a great deal of discussion with no clear consensus as to its function or purpose. It has been suggested already that the plaster, which dips to form a shallow hollow, may form the impression of where a beam may have rested. I wander whether infact the surface 18348 may not be a floor, but instead the upper level of a construction, perhaps associated with/or indeed, the covering of a roof, in which the beam (if indeed there was one) may have formed some sort of support. This may also offer an explanation to the sloping mudbrick and plaster visible in the southern section – they were covering the beam, whilst also forming part of the roof. I by no means fully support this idea as there are a lot of questions to be asked – but it is just food for thought.
PTW spent today drawing the elevation of wall 5074, the northern and uppermost course (latest, most recent phase?) of space 343. The plan was drawn yesterday by PTW and myself, and previous to that, the eastern (F5050=F2425) and southern (F2426) wall elevations were also drawn. The plan was to remove wall 5074 today, but it has been decided to postpone the removal of this construction until next season (mudbrick 18350, mortar 18351, plaster 18352) where we will hopefully expose the earlier wall 3306 in full.
JFB has been drawing the southern section of the trench, the western step in the southern area of the trench, and today has moved onto the western step section in the northern area of the trench with the assistance of EMM. The buttresses 3307 and 3309 have become increasingly more visible since being exposed – it appears that they hold the moisture in the ground differently and for a much longer period that the surrounding room fill and walls.
SRW has continued in space 342 where he has defined what may be a cultural surface, 18346, in which finds are embedded for the most part horizontally, inferring that they may lay flat ontop of a used surface; alternatively they may indicate a different episode of rapid deposition during the process of filling in the space. SRW has since defined this surface, lifted the numerous small finds and recorded it – ready for further investigation next season.
ER and myself planned to outline space 345 today in order to establish the limits and definition of mudbricks in relation to their association walls – with the help of our worker on site, we cleaned the area and were able to outline the surroundings walls of the space 5068, 5067, 5076 and 5075. Tomorrow we will outline the remaining features of the trench for the daily sketch and general plan of the trench, end of season. |
