| Entry: | Today we finished excavating the central floor make up layer in building 97, which took several days of work split between the four members of the pod. Because the make up layer consisted of several patchy layers of plaster and other material, we compounded the entire floor into a single unit, unit 20327. During the excavation process we discovereed a thin architectural structure protruding from the floor next to the bins in the western side of the room. We were unable to identify this abbreviated structure, and considered that it may have been a type of bin, the remains of a bench, or a fallen plaster support from in between the wooden pillars that would have partitioned the western storage part of the building. Because the structure was relatively straight and unbroken along the east west edge, which also had the remains of a plaster covering, we collectively arrived at the tentative conclusion that the structure was the remains of a bench. Other excavators visiting the building were not certain what the structure was because it seems to be an unusual place for a bench, and the construct does not appear to reach all the way to the partition wall. However, based on his memories of last year's excavations, my pod leader indicated that the bench would have made sense fitting between two previously excavated platforms.
Because of safety concerns with large cracks the Southern wall, we have determined that we will be taking down the wall before excavating the remainder of the dirty floor in building 97. Thus far it has been difficult for me to determine the difference between the appearance of the dirty floor, the make-up layer that we have removed, and the floor that we are coming down to. Hopefully the stratigraphy will be more obvious to me when we have removed the floor down to the level of the new burial cuts. |
