| Entry: | Work in B.106 this week was spent doing minor excavations to fully expose the layer of mud bricks in walls F.5058 and F.3351. Work in the corner of these walls proved that the previous idea that smaller individually sized bricks were used to construct the corner, but rather using ‘regular’ sized bricks as in the other corners. Also the walls were bonded to one another, as is the case in the corners F.5058 and F.2408, and F.2408 and F.F2427.
Work done in the SE corner of the building was done to expose the plastered layer (U.16999) below. This was done because the corner of the walls F.3351 and F.2427 cannot be identified. The plastered layer runs up to two redish bricks that are visible in plan view, which possibly belong to the wall (F.3362) below the plastered layer also visible in the wall face section below F.3351. Animal burrows also heavily disturb the bricks in the east of F.3351 and the outlines cannot be identified. Bricky material was removed from the east, exposing U.16999 leaving a small section in wall F.3351, which does not show any information unfortunately.
A substantial amount of material left standing halfway along wall F.5058 towards the corner to F.3351 and around the corner to the higher part of the wall was also removed to ensure all brick material was removed to the level previously exposed. This material left standing had been useful to establish the courses of brick and their direction but needed to be removed in order to show the true outline and border of the building. During these excavations the interface to F.2424, the western wall of B.105, was also investigated. A small gap was found in some parts, although this does not seem to be constructed or filled with intention. The fill (U.18371) had a natural character and may have been swept into the gap between walls F.5058 and F.2424 by wind, rain or other natural events. The exterior outline of the building in the SW corner follows an acute angle also previously visible in the inner corner. This makes the general shape of the southern part of the building very irregular, which is not caused by the cut of the bell-shaped pit, as is the case in the SE corner, but represents the original construction of the building. The northern part is more at right angles, seemingly more regular, but must be seen in conjunction with the southern part. This raises questions about reasons why the building was constructed this way also how it may connect to surrounding structures.
At this stage the entire course of bricks in the double rows, exposed in walls F.2408, F.5058 and F.3351, was drawn giving an impression of the brick work as well as construction elements, e.g. corner bonding, buttress-wall connections, of the building exposed over the past weeks. Also images for a 3D model were taken. Cleaning for this step of documentation included sweeping the surfaces in Sp.310 and Sp.454, which revealed some interesting information in the southern area Sp.454. This plan view showed four different areas, in the east and southeast an unclear area possibly still connected to the bell-shaped pit was evident, along the base of F.3362 (below F.3351) a ca. 0.5m wide area of room-fill was visible, in the northern part a bricky, grey, homogenous, compacted surface was seen and in the centre of the space white, plastered material with an irregular outline was identified. Whether this plastered surface is a floor or if this area is connected to the small plastered block in front of wall F.5058 to the south of buttress F.3301 or not remains unclear. Other possibilities are that the plastering is connected to the bottom of the bell-shaped pit or to the transitional plastering layer U.16999. Because this transitional layer is immediately below the upper walls of B.106 (F.2427, F.2408, F5058 and F.3351), most likely forming some kind of substrate, foundation layer for the construction of the building, and also above the lower walls of the building it is hard to understand how this layer relates to the plastering in the centre of Sp.454, which obviously does not fulfil the same foundation function as the plaster between the walls. Still, this situation needs to be investigated in order to understand the connections between the different construction elements and there function. Finally, the outline of what seems to be a buttress-like feature (F.3376) immediately below buttress F.3301 was also visible in the plan-view of Sp.454. The top of red mud-bricks was identified, similar to those in wall F.3362, with a small corner of white plastering. The position close to the destroyed SE corner of buttress F.3301 justifies an initial assumption that this feature is a buttress, rather than a wall.
Today a small sounding was opened into the lowest levels of the mud-bricks belonging to the central part of wall F.5058. Also the remaining mud-brick material (U.16994) of buttress F.3301 was excavated completing the unit. As expected the plastered transition was exposed below the buttress gradually sloping upwards to the connection to wall F.5058. The last to levels of brick were removed also exposing the plastering below the wall. The interesting part where the plastering layer connects to F.2424 is somewhat unclear, and it is uncertain whether the layer runs up to or underneath the eastern wall of B.105. More of the plastered transitional layer will have to be exposed in order to fully understand its stratigraphic position. Its function as a form of foundation or substructure for the walls of B.106 remains the most plausible interpretation. |
