| Entry: | A few days ago, we were asked to begin work in B. 43. B. 43 was previously excavated by Mellaart in the 60’s and was known as one of the level VIII "shrines" (E. VIII, 27). Its claim to fame was the "relief of two magnificent heraldic leopards attacking each other, nearly 6 ft. in length, on the west wall, the earliest leopard relifes found yet" (Mellaart 1966, 180). Mellaart removed the leopards and the western wall was taken down by an excavation team in 2004 in order to avoid its collapse into the building below. Additionally, the 2004 team also removed two burials (one of those burials contained a number of "cylindrical serpentinite beads...white soft saccroidal marble and serpentinite axe head beads...cylindrical white saccroidal marble beads”"as well as a small lump of red ochre. The building itself was not completely excavated, and in addition to the burials, only a few in-situ contexts were excavated (Mellaart had excavated the building, down to its occupation level in the 60’s).
Now here we are, working in a building that has been abandoned not once, not twice but three times; first by its original occupants thousands of years ago, then by Mellaart in 1965 and in 2004 by an excavation team belonging to the current project. It has been stripped of its majestic leopards and erosion has taken its toll on the long exposed plaster floors and trying to excavate all the elements into a common phase, while being mindful of the stratigraphic relationships between the eroded layers is a challenging task.
Despite all of this, I’ve developed a peculiar connection to the building and a great sense of excitement takes over every time I step into building 43 because I feel as though this building still has a lot of left to tell us (maybe this is the sentimentalist in me, rooting for things that seem to be lost causes). Nevertheless, this sense of excitement is perpetuated every time I begin to trowel a surface, partly because whenever I begin to take a layer off, red pigment peeks through from underneath. We currently have found patches of paint on two platforms, near a post retrieval pit, and most intriguingly, in/around a hearth located in the southern portion of the building; and its only day 4. |
