| Entry: | Today I continued the drawing and excavation of skeleton 15346. Once I finished the drawing, I removed the forearms and hands in order to get a better view of the pelvis for a picture. I also took out many of the scattered foot bones so I could level the grave fill to search for possible grave goods at the feet as well as to try and see the burial cut. In the process of this, I found both fibulas as well as the right tibia - the left tibia was a few centimeters on top of the right tibia, and the left tibia was rotated 180 degrees. The body was typical of what has been found for the late Roman/early Byzantine, where the body was extended supine with the head to the west and feet to the east. The feet were "rolled out" slightly, which in a resting position laying straight would make sense. There was one possible grave good that I located to the south of the right foot, which appears to be the handle of a jug which is definitely from the later periods of either Roman or Byzantine times. The other observation from the east end of the grave was a dark gray area north of the left foot, which appears to have phytoliths in it. Could this be burnt plant offerings in the grave? I sampled it in order to determine this. Once I excavated the pelvic inlet, there were some very small dark orange bones directly under the pubic symphyses. I at first thought this was a small immature baby, as sex could not yet be observed on the pelvis. I took all the soil with the bones in it for a sample back to the lab, and it ended up being remains from a fish. Maybe this was the individual's last meal that killed him? Bad fish? I don't think this was deposited here from a animal disturbance, since it is directly where the large intestine/rectum would have been in life, as well as the fish remains being isolated to that region. If it were from a disturbance, the bones would have been scattered quite a bit. The individual was a male, as was indicated by the pelvis when it was removed. More discussion on the individual at a later date. I hope I find the cut tomorrow. |
