| Entry: | Didn't get to enter yesterday's diary because of the loss of power and the subsequent difficulties with the data base. Overall yesterday was a pretty slow day digging wise as most areas had some form of recording or difficult problems to deal with. Space 108/107 was at a standstill because Colin and Atakhan hadn't finished the digitising from the day before and had to go to Konya. Naomi however was able to do all the necesasry recording which she'll add to as the wall and plaster is excavated. Whilst we talked over what to number as units and featuures we came across a situation where we needed to record features within features. Tim had to be consulted on this one as it was basically a database problem. The result is we're going to change the feature box on the unit sheet to an equivalent term to 'parent' relationship in computer jargon. All who were consulted on this were OK about the change, this will also resolve the reluctance to allocate cuts as features, the only problem at the moment is finding the right term for this box. The only new information on this area was finding a larger area of red painted plaster on the step in the opening. Naomi took two samples from the wall plaster today. This was done after consulting Ian and Wendy. Wendy suggested the conservators take the samples on Satarday morning as they arrive tonight but we've been held up so much on this wall I refused that option. She advised on what samples to take, how, and the optimum size but she was was quite adamant we take two samples, not one as Ian had suggested. Future plaster samples will be taken at every 0.5m across the face of the wall and apparently lifted by us to save time. Mira joined us today, she's taking brick samples from this space 107/108 wall and any walls that we excavte in the near future. She also asked for 20 litre samples of 'midden' deposits to experiment with in making mortar. Space 107 hasn't changed much, layer (1099) appeared to seal a cut (1502) to the south that respects the wall but it's relationship is not clear at the moment and neither is the wall. Ali is excavating layer (1504), a mix of brick debris and ash. What I did notice today is that (1099) is very similar to (1505) under excavation in space 106 and in turn similar to the ash lenses Jon excavated in space 105 last season. Mary and Roddy appear to have bottomed their 'consolidation' cut however it hasn't resolved certain problems with the phasing of the walls. The east facing face of the wall shows clear stepping down southwards which follows the terrace Mellaart recorded, however the relationship to the southern wall and various cuts is unclear. The whole issue was filmed when the specialists came on tour. I deliberately set them up to consider issues other than bone and samples, they weren't very helpful and poor Mary and Roddy were a bit down because of problems. After the excavation of the bone cluster (1082) a cut (1090) filled by (1089), was identified in the SW corner running along the southern wall, where it was cut from and whatv it represents is unclear, part of the continued problems with wall phasing. Below (1082) in sequence were units (1091) and (1092), clayey fills within cut (1043). at the base was (1506), a cluster rich in bone with clay balls, some shell and obssidian. Initilly these appeared to be at the base of the cut but it's apparently not so clear now as Mary and Roddy are having difficulty defining the cut. Ian came up with some interesting ideas on the origins of deposition if the deposit is at the base of a cut; ritual foundation deposit, feasting, -ritaul feasting --, good to bear in mind but I think there would be more of an activity horizon apparent if it does represent the debris from a 'feast' in situ and/or possibly animal bone as a foundation deposit may be articulated and not accompanied by other artifacts?
We didn't reach our goal for the end of this week which was to have the area looking quite different. For next week we must work on the wall situation, I think it'll be really good for morale when some of them have gone. We had our end of week site tour, Rogers area is amazing, so much going on, it'll be great to see the whole plan of the building soon.Entered By: Shahina Farid |
