| Entry: | Today's entry is a summary of the work carried out in Space 446 during the past two days and including this morning.
As I mentioned in my diary entry of 27.7.2011, a section was made on the southern area of plaster floor 15371 with the hope of gaining a better understanding of the mode of construction of both this floor and the sandy orange surface to its East. This section yielded no useful information (both surfaces seem to have been sitting on fill), so I decided to continue excavating 20 cm further up towards the north and to create the EW section there. In the process, when I lifted the western part of floor 15371, a new plaster floor (U. 15395, orange/brown and very flat surface) came up right underneath and without any fill in between. This is probably an indication that 15371 is a replastering of 15395. Towards the East and at the same level as U. 15395 I found another plaster floor surface (U.15398). The fact that it is at the same level and it has the same colour as U. 15395 make me wonder whether both units are different parts of the same floor.The excavation of the remainder of floor 15371 towards the north will allow us to confirm this theory. To the south of floor 15398 I noticed that the plaster peeled off very easily, which resulted in the discovery of yet another floor (U. 16927) about 2 cm below 15398, continuing towards the south and going into the Eastern section.
Below the level of 15395, 15398 and 16927 is Floor Unit 15399, towards the centre east and centre west of the northern half of U. 446, divided into two patches at the same height and of very similar characteristics (greyish or pale yellow colour). It is interesting to note that on the eastern patch of 15399 a clay lens was found, maybe indicating the presence of a hearth on this floor.
Adjacent to the wall, as mentioned in previous diary entries, we encounter the very flat and white or pale yellow floor U. 15371, going into feature 3320 towards the west and into the baulk towards the north. The western area of this floor is characterised by a large bump (ca. 10 cm in height) of white plaster directly superimposed to it (U. 16924), which, in turn, lies connected and at a lower level than U. 15341 (possibly the western edge of the floor excavated last year to the east of where I am working now), in the NE corner of Space 446. In this NW corner floors 15371, 16924 and 15341 rise in two steps, the lower being 15371 and the higher being 15341. This could also be also a clear example of replastering of floors.
Finally, another possible floor (U. 15388) might exist below this complex of superimposed floors, aproximately 15 cm below 15371. However, only three unconnected patches of plaster have been found (right below 15395 and towards the centre and SW of the space). Further excavation will be needed to confirm the existence of this floor.
This complex of floors has been drawn on plans 11/216a and b and photographed.
On the other hand, the initial hypothesis that there was a doorway towards the south of Space 446 may have to be rejected, following the appearance of a plaster line approximately 10 cm long and 1 to 2 cm wide across the so-called doorway. In order to clarify this situation, the area was sprayed with water, which confirmed the existenced of the plaster line and an unidentified plaster feature running towards the north and patchily connected to the plaster line. The existence of a wall blocking this supposed doorway would be confirmed by the appearance of mudbricks (most likely to the north of the plaster line). Excavation of the next 10 cm section is expected to cast some light on this new hypothesis. In addition, with the aim of both further exploring the possibility of a wall around this area and whether there is a connection between this 'bench' and the floors, I began cleaning the section of F. 3320 and exposing the plaster cover on this bench. The initial cleaning at the southern end of the feature shows that there is plaster from the N to the S limit of the feature and that towards the south the plaster seems to go in approximately 10 cm with respect to the plaster at the top of the feature.
The eastern section of Space 446 was also cleaned, with poor results, however, in terms of adding information to the interpretation of the floors. The southern section seems to be characterised by the absence of floors (reflected in a stratigraphy characterised by fill), except at the very top of the southern area of the section, where a layer of crumbly orange material (plaster belonging to last years' floor, U. 15341) wan be seen. According to PFB the absence of floors on the southern area of Space 446 could be explained by the existence of a pit, for which there is, however, no evidence either in the stratigraphy or the planum. |
