| Entry: | Since my last diary entrance I’ve been mainly engaged in the excavation of a couple of new burials in building 5: F3810, F3813.
Both of them are located in the southern part of the platform (F3811) that extends in the north-western corner of space 154.
Burial F3810 (cut: 32200; infill: 22199, 32201; skeleton: 32205) is a primary deposition: it has an oval shape (85x57 cm), it is S-N oriented and, at a depth of almost 60 cm from the top of the infill, it contains the skeleton of a juvenile individual aged between 12-14 years. The northern side of the burial is cut by burial F3808. The same side cuts burial F3813. The burial also cuts a superposition of red make-up layers (not excavated) that were concentrated in the south-eastern side of the platform only and were most likely related to the filling of some localized depressions. Under them is a white plastered floor (also cut by F3810 and not excavated yet) that might correspond to the earlier phase of the southern platform (F3811).
After I removed the infill of the burial F3810 and reached the bones, Marco took over the skeleton’s excavation, while I moved to burial (F3813).
The conservation of F3810’s bones is so terrible that, after having been exposed, they immediately started to fall apart. Nonetheless it has been possible to determine that the body was lying on its left side in a flexed position (knees flexed towards chest) and that the head was turned towards west. The sex is at the moment undetermined.
Due to a visible concentration of phytholits almost all over the bones (data confirmed by Carla), it is highly possible that the entire body was wrapped into some kind of textile/matting. The same procedure was also associated to Sk 22195 (in the latter case the phytholits were better preserved): in the case of Sk 32205 the wrapping surrounds the entire skeleton and not a selection of disarticulated bones.
Another interesting thing that needs to be mentioned is the presence of a high concentration of fragmented and disarticulated human bones in F3810’s infill (32201): they might be referred to a different juvenile individual (most likely one person only, but this hypothesis has to be verified). In the same infill were also: 1. some shells’ fragments (grave items?); 2. some spots with a high phytholits’ concentration (wrapping?).
The fragmented bones + shells + phytholits might correspond to at least one earlier burial. I see 2 possible interpretations of theirs presence in F3810’s infill:
1. an earlier burial, lying under F3810, might have been intercepted by its cut (32200), its content dismembered and put into infill 32201;
2. an earlier burial, located somewhere else, might have been dismembered and its content equally put into infill 32201.
In both cases the content of an earlier burial has been dispersed in the fill of burial F3810.
Considering that, at the bottom of cut 32200, along the eastern side of Sk32205, has emerged the upper part of the skull (32208) of a child, that does not seem connected to other body parts, the first hypothesis seems to me the most plausible (Sk32208 has not been excavated).
The second burial I’ve been excavating is F3813 (cut: 32206; infill: 32207; skeleton: 22197). Located in the southern part of platform F3811 as well, it has an oval shape (70x 35 cm) and contains the disarticulated bodies of at least 2 individuals: the pelvis of one aged between 6-8; more bones of at least one person aged between 10-12 (sex undetermined in both cases).
F3813 is cut by the overlying burial F3808 (bundle of disarticulated bones + plastered skull) and is cut by the northern side of burial F3810.
Considering that most of the bones are amassed along the southern edge of the burial, while in the central part of the infill/cut the bones are much less, it is possible that cut 22193 had intercepted the overlying burial (F3813). In order to create a wide surface were to put Sk22196 & co., it is possible that the content of the earlier burial has been moved from the central part of the deposition and amassed towards its southern edge. This action would explain why the body was mostly disarticulated (only part of the spinal column was still in anatomical connection).
If this hypothesis was true, F3813 would be a primary loose burial. Another hypothesis is that F3813 was a secondary deposition since its very beginning.
Hopefully the analyses that will be conducted by the persons working in the human remains laboratory will help to clear this doubt.
With the excavation of these 2 burials my permanence in building 5 comes to an end.
To conclude, this year excavation in the platform located in the north-western corner of space 154 revealed the existence of 2 main sub-occupation phases.
The more recent one is related to one big platform (F3809) and is associated to a badly preserved white plastered floor (22188), a ledge (U22187; F243) and a buttress (U22186; F248): the latter ones are both abutting the eastern side of the western wall (F230) that separates space 154 from space 156.
In the previous phase, the platform shows a clear distinction between its northern and southern side:
the northern (F3812) is related to a superposition of plastered floors (32202-32204) and make-up layers and has just been partially excavated this year;
the southern (F3811), whose northern edge covers part of the northern platform and came therefore later than that, also shows a superposition of at least 3 floors (22189, 22191, one white plaster floor not excavated yet) and make-up layers (22190, 22192, 22198, others make-up not excavated yet): due to erosion, all of them are very badly preserved. It is not clear if the structural distinction between northern and southern platform is also related to a different function/use of them.
What is clear instead is that in the southern platform was a peculiar concentration of burials: the earlier one is F3813, which is cut by F3810. Both of them are cut by F3808. One burial is a primary deposition (F3810), the other 2 are secondary depositions (3808, 3813). One of them (F3808: 22193 cut; 22194 infill; 22195 skeleton; 22196 skull), which is related to the double deposition of a skull into an organic container surrounded by exceptional grave items and a bundle of bones wrapped in a matting/chord, shows quite exceptional and distinctive traits.
It would be very interesting to understand if the proximity and superposition between these burials is related to a specific significance, in terms, for example, of parental/genetic relationships or other. |
