| Entry: | Significant remains of charred timbers were preserved in fill over the floor of Building 45. Three of these timber sections appeared to be aligned ina linear fashion, and may represent the remains of a single timber, lying on its side. A fourth timber section appeared to travel at an angle that would intersect the linear timber feature at a point where the timber was absent (possibly burnt away).
The linear timber was aligned to what appeared to be the remains of a timber upright, retained in position within a platform forming part of the Building.
It is suggested that these sections of timber may represent the remains of structural wood that has burnt and broken near the exposed base of the posts. Whilst nearby mud brick within Building 45 points to a discolouration caused by a high-temperature fire, it is clear that these timbers have not been subject to the same intensity of destruction. Should they form part of the same sequence of destruction by burning, then I would suggest one of a number of options:
1) They were located some distance from the centre of the fire, and were only subject to charring rather than flaming combustion. This seems unlikely, due to their proximity to some of the discoloured wall.
2) They collapsed early in the destruction sequence, and at a low level in the building, where they may have had some cover from other falling debris, there was only oxygen sufficient to sustain smouldering combustion.
If the timbers are regarded as being part of a separate destruction process, then it might be considered that they burned as a part of an open combustion, rather than a compartment fire - but given that open fires are generally fuel-controlled rather than oxygen-controlled, it still seems likely that at some point circumstances were such that air supply to the timbers was limited.Entered By: Karl Harrison |
