| Entry: | Today I continued work on F. 3347 Sk. 15390, where I was not sure if I had a truncated skeleton, or a whole skeleton, as the other skeleton (F. 3340, Sk. 15346) was found approximately 15 centimeters above this skeleton. It seems that the sequence of events is that F. 3347 was buried first, then F. 3340 above it, and then a large disturbance occurred in the upper body of F. 3340 moving most of the upper body above the same individual's lower body. F. 3347 is not truncated, as I found out by removing some of the upper limb bones from the pelvic region, clearing the area to see the vertebral column, and I eventually located the right arm. There elements are mostly in situ, with some disturbance in the smaller bones of the hands probably the high animal activity apparent in the unit. The bones were very fragile, and when I lifted the lower limbs they fell apart in my hands as I put them into the bags - this was pretty disappointing, since I could see they were almost all whole bones but crushed slightly in situ. The other problem is now that I can see there is an upper body going into the western section of our tent/trench, we will have to decide on how to deal with getting the rest of the skeleton out. It is good luck for this burial (F. 3347) that the disturbance did not reach down into this skeleton, as it did for the upper body of F. 3340. The area to the south where CMB has been working is I think also related to this very large (probably human) disturbance from a later period than the burials. This disturbance also has made the cuts of the burials almost impossible to locate. I started on the other burial Sk. 15383 F.3342 we have in the northwestern section of the trench which is mudbrick lined and encircled at the top, and this was how it was located by DLG. |
