| Entry: | 24-08-2013
In seeking again to further clarify the extent of the buttress feature in the new building 125 (F. 3387), I began excavating the top brownish fill out of the area surrounding the buttress as U 31233, while the lowest 4cm just above the red floor-like surface were excavated by Goce as U 31227. Once the top fill was removed, I moved to the area where the buttress meets the north profile of the sondage, and began clearing the material above the red surface with a trowel and plaster knife. A few centimeters (maybe 3 cm) above the lower red layer, a very burned, white, ashy, layer was present, along with charcoal and flat, burnt red plaster pieces in some areas (very crumbly). This was perhaps a higher floor level (or two phases of plastering), with the more clayey, less burnt (doesn’t look baked and isn’t crumbly) red layer below, and a thin layer of brown fill in between. The yellow whiteish plaster layer bordering the buttress in this area was also exposed, clearly showing where it meets a wall, around the curved corner of the buttress, in the NE corner of the sondage, with both reddish layers and ashy layers sloping down from this yellow white plaster. The burnt white and red layer was difficult to expose due to its crumbly nature, but seemed to be present nearly everywhere in the area below 31217 toward the northeast corner of the buttress, as did the more clear red clay layer below. Talking to GWN about the differences between these layers, the upper layer being more clearly burnt with charcoal and ash than the lower, GWN clarified that reddish clay is usually indication of heating, but not necessarily burning; therefore, it is likely the red and white layer on top reached a higher temperature than the lower, becoming more crumbly and orangey-red, while the lower reddish brown layer (farther away from the heat source of 31217), did not begin to change character and vitrify as the above layer did, but did gather enough heat to turn red. GWN also says the lower layer is possibly more wet because it has been unexposed and hasn’t dried out yet. I am not sure about this, as clay can naturally be reddish in color (though maybe not is this area?), and my experience with burned and heated materials is quite different from what GWN describes. A study I did on burned ancient mudbrick vs unburned modern mudbrick in Lydia demonstrated the changes with heating, increasing rigidity and vitrification (>1000 degrees C) (becomıng more friable with increased heat until it is so hot it becomes glass-like), while the unbaked, sun-dried brick was quite red with no signs of burning (quite wet and easily melting away in rain as well). The lower level seems to me to share more in common with unbaked material, though perhaps an intermediate degree of heating is present that I am not experienced with, which may indeed have allowed the clay to retain its moisture while changing color, and perhaps this clay/plaster is quite different than what I have seen before.
Also, I began cleaning the potential fired feature in the north central area of B.98 in the corner of the removed walls, which included baked orange red clay, reddish brown, purpley maroon, and yellowy white colors. |
