| Entry: | KTX recorded the faces of walls in Space 310 (B.106) today. Wanting to remove wall F.2427, he scraped off the plaster U.17246 [in 2008, the excavator of Space 310 saw two layers of plaster on top of each other; we did not see this today and therefore used only the number attributed to the lower layer of plaster] from its face. The result was such a nice and clear view on the brick and mortar layers of F.2427 and the interface with F.3314 below, that we decided to scrape off 0.3-0.5cm of the dried out faces of all walls in the Space and document it in 3D photography. KTX also removed the remains of plaster 17246 on the upper walls (F.2427, F.2408, F.5058) but left the patches preserved on the lower walls (F.3312, F.3313, F.3314).
After the scraping, one could see nicely the transitional plaster layer U.16999 separating the two wall faces, the lense of fill U.18353 in between the base of F.2408 and the top of F.3313, and the mortar and bricks of both upper and lower walls. F.2427 contains two bricks that are made from brick material with a colour different from the dark grey material we are used to in Building 106; a rather light reddish brown brick. One brick each of this material were also found in the buttresses F.3302 and F.3301. Another unusual feature could be observed concerning the material of the upper walls F.2427, F.2408 and F.5058: patches of white limy material, slight different from that used to coat the walls in plaster, seemingly filling in gaps between the bricks. Several of these hole plugs were found in the corners.
PTW clarified the outlines of buttress F.3355 in Building 107; the buttress is heavily disturbed from all sides and looks anything else but pretty, but we can distinguish what probably was its original shape. He then started tackling the fill 16990 left in the NW corner, working towards wall F.3344 and F.5074. Thinking about health and safety, we decided to take back the topsoil left covering the corner of F.3344 and F.5074. When removing these walls, it will create a step securing the very high western section of the trench.
DLG is uncovering buttress F.3307 by taking out the block of fill U.16995 left in the SW corner of Space 461, removing a lot of soil. Nothing seems left at this point of F.3337 on top of F.3307.
SO and EUR, after finishing scraping (U.16996) room fill in Space 342, started excavating a thick layer of room fill U.16997 in the southern half of the house where room fill is still standing as high as the walls. The layer was visible in the section separating the southern part from the northern part of the house, where fill is excavated quite deep already. 16997 is defined by its many large white marl inclusions which make it very compact. The walls around the southern part of the building are only visible in patches and will hopefully become clearer when excavating down room fill. We are already about 1.2-1.7m below the surface of the mound here; disturbances thus go quite deep.
JHB and GWN continued working on buttress F.5057 today. While GWN cut it back nearly to where it meets wall F.5056 and made a nice profile, JHB scraped the top of the buttress and surrounding walls. This has always been a very confusing spot, we were never sure about which wall abuts which other wall where, but this is also a crucial spot as finding out about this does not only give insight into building techniques, but also this is a point where three buildings (B.98, B.106, Sp. 345) meet and where their chronology can be investigated. After scraping and discussing, the situation was clearer, while still not clear, and JHB drew the features as we saw them.
In the section cut into buttress F.5057, we could see nothing revealing any phasing or anything about construction techniques. After drying out over the day, by the end we thought we saw some layering, recognisable by colour, but everybody saw different layer – we will check again tomorrow.
They then proceeded to scrape down the remaining lowermost centimetres of the buttress until coming down to the fill U.16998 under it. Soon it became clear that the fill with many inclusions and find that could be seen from the sides was not really present towards the centre of the buttress. They then cut back this fill, from north to south, revealing the floor underneath, until suddenly this floor stopped in a nice line, seemingly lipping upwards in some parts. This was quite a surprise, as it actually suggests that there was a construction feature which floor U.16977 was constructed running up to. This feature, of which we now have only a few centimetres in height left, is made from the same material as buttress F.5057, could not be distinguished from it when coming down, and has nearly same outlines, but seemingly smaller. We found this right in the end of the day and had no time to discuss everything in detail, or check on the western and eastern sides of our buttress, but so far there are the following ideas about how to interpret the situation:
1. For some reason the lowermost parts of F.5057, and possibly also the other construction features in western B.98, were thinner than the upper parts of the walls, and the niches thus produced are filled with material that we interpreted to be fill under the buttress.
2. F.5057 was constructed, and at some later point during maintenance work its upper part received a coating with similar material, and a plaster layer. This maintenance work was done when the foot of the buttress was surrounded by fill that was not cleared away before re-working and re-using the buttress, suggesting several phases of use and construction. An interface between the core buttress and its later coating could not be distinguished in section, though, as described above.
3. We are dealing with the remains of an older buttress under F.5057, belonging to the building that also floor 16977 belongs to. This older buttress was cut and re-used as a foundation for F.5057, but the floor was not re-used in B.98. |
