| Entry: | We’ve been digging in Building 96 for a week now—although of course it doesn’t look so different in the building notorious for endless floors and burials. True to its reputation, we began right away with excavating an exposed skeleton (u. 20850) from last season which I had thought was f. 7012, a burial in the extensive eastern platform (f. 3508) burial sequence which had no unit numbers assigned to it. Actually, f. 7012 was a number assigned to a hypothetical burial last season, so we made a note that the number had changed to a different, actual, burial, and removed f. 7012 from its initial place in the matrix.
On the western side, Osman and I have been peeling floor plaster and clay makeup until our wrists ache! Everything on that side is extremely compact, and this particular layer of makeup that we’re currently working on (u. 20852) is thick as well. One interesting thing about the floors on this half of the building is that there are a few round, shallow scoops and hollows in an otherwise intact floor (albeit one that slopes significantly to the south). For what possible purpose??
It’s strange to think that a week has gone by, with the building looking just as it did a week ago—especially as such big changes are happening in Building 97 next door. This season, we’re hoping to be able to get a handle on the complexity of the burial sequence inevitably in the northeast platform f. 3507… A goal that seemed manageable at first but is seeming more challenging as we peel away so slowly at the western floors and as our child burial (f. 7012) becomes ever more confusing—with the unexpected discovery on Thursday of an adult’s foot just underneath |
