| Entry: | On the third try I managed to expose the outlines of a brick, although they were still not absolutely clear to me. Just like the others before, this brick connected to the one directly above within the center of the buttress despite the very thick mortar layer visible on the outside. As the profile of the cut through the center of the buttress grows larger, it is increasingly obvious, how irregularly the bricks and the mortar are dispersed.
While I was working on that, my colleague discovered, that the phytolith layer he was working on was connected to the one that showed itself in the profile of the buttress. Chance would have it that a paleobotanist was around to have a look at it and give her opinion, which was that it might be the remains of reed that was used in the building process. That made me wonder once more, what exactly the origin of the multiple small phytolith inclusions was and whether they might be the remains of once consistent layers that were crucial in the construction of the buttress, maybe as a means of applying the plaster. One might think the reed was placed on the outside of the bricks and mortar for the plaster to be smeared upon. Unfortunately we have not yet found a layer in vertical direction, which makes the use of the organic material unclear to me.
Another topic of interest is the plaster itself. We expected the buttress to be seperated from at least one of the adjacent walls with a layer of plaster, but in fact this seems to be the case for neither of them. As we are not all the way down to the lower buttress by now, there might still be other discoveries that will give us new possibilities.
But if the impression we have right now is confirmed, it is possible that the different constructions might have been built at the same time.
The buttress and the wall south to it are on the same level now and after bajram I will continue to create a clear section whilst the wall to the east is coming down as well, so hopefully we will gain further insights.
Despite some smaller uncertainties about labeling and sampling systems I feel pretty secure around the trench by now, also because we had a useful trench tour today which gave me a good overview on what my colleagues are working on while we struggle with the buttress. |
