| Entry: | Space 178. Building 23.
An up-date on events of the past week or so: I’ve been continuing work in the north-east corner of the area, whilst Anwen, Nurcan, and Adnan, soldier on in their own respective corners. After excavating unit (4504), a substantial band of floor layers, that lay up to, and slightly lipped over, (at it’s south-east extreme), the east-west ‘ridge’ F.528, which divides dirty and clean areas within this part of the room, I began investigating what turned out to be a crawlhole, through east-west wall F.482., at the northern limit of Space 178. After removing the fill - (4508), which may be the same material as infill (4477), which overlay F.482, it became clear that the crawlhole, now numbered F.530, was built as an integral part of F.482 - part of the original construction. The void, which measured 0.62 e-w x 0.35 x 0.47m. deep, was plaster-lined, the plaster being a continuation of that on the north and south faces of the wall. The ‘cut’ was numbered (4509). Within the investigative slot I dug to fully reveal the feature, I partly uncovered what appears to be the eastern edge of a circular bin?, immediately to the north - west of F.530. Where visible, the top fill was made up of mixed brick and plaster material. Richard had a crawlhole with a bin below, in the north - east corner of Space 173, so this may prove to be a not uncommon occurrence. The ‘bin’ remains un-numbered, and may well never be dug, this area - Space 179, having been designated as a step, rather than an area of excavation. Shame, because it looks good. If we end up ahead of schedule, we might get to have a look, but I’m not going to hold my breath over that one. The base of the crawlhole which was plastered, as was the ‘bin’, continues northward to the limit of the slot. This gives the impression that the base becomes a floor, which in turn, merges with the bin, as if the features, and the base / floor were all constructed as one. This seems like a tall order to me, though perhaps it’s a common event. I shall enquire. I think it’s more likely that there are different phases of construction, obscured by similarities between different plasters. Having completed recording of F.530, I am now in the process of removing another band of floor layers - (4511). These layers are the last surviving floors above room infill, in my corner of the space, and their excavation, at the moment to an arbitary line seperating me from Anwen to the south, will hopefully enable me to link up stratigraphically with her and Adnan. Nurcan has’nt entered into my equation quite yet, but at some point we may all end up working in phase - more or less. There’s a strong possibility, that the infill I’m coming down on to, is chock full of bodies, which will mean we’ll have to adopt some serious fast - track procedures, if we’re going to have a chance of staying on schedule. Changing the subject, and briefly touching on an old grievance that many of us share - I’m fed up with being expected to chase up the workmen over their various misdemeanours. However much we’re supposed to have authority over them, the reality is that we have none whatsoever. The fact is, they’ve been taking the piss out of us, almost from start to finish. There’s several issues involved here, mostly political I guess, and I don’t have time to comment on them right now - because it’s almost tea - time. I do think something radical needs to be done, if not this year, then certainly before the next digging season, and yes, I most certainly mean a few people getting the boot. This subject deserves more discussion, however tiresome it’s become. Hope to discuss further, and more in depth, in a future dairy. That’s all for now.Entered By: Jez Taylor |
