| Entry: | Yesterdays diary wasn't finished as we had a field/lab staff meeting before dinner and a story telling session after dinner. There were some interesting ideas and discussions which to me emphasised how much cultural baggage we all carry. Work progressed well today the walls are almost down. Mary and Roddy excavated the deposits their wall was constructed on, that is the continuation of the layers they had excavated from cut (1043), accumulated deposits during the construction of the wall. The east brick face was neatly constructed but as the bricks were excavated it was seen that they were irregular from pressure of overlying bricks and underlying mortar, thereby suggesting they were constructed in situ. An alternative is that they were fashioned off site but laid whilst slightly damp; still elastic enough to settle and conform to the pressures of the surrounding matrix. The mortar was the same as the fill between their wall and Jons which can only have got there if Jons wall was already standiong. What the wall represents is still a mystery. Roddy thinks it might be the foundation of a wall, I think its too deep for that and also Louise suggested a lot of trouble may have gone into its construction, ie. its apparent neatness. Or someone suggested it might be a revetting wall but for what? Anwen and Ali have taken off wall (1526), feature 57, dividing spaces 106 and 107. This had a small opening, feature 62 constructed in the centre of the wall, fairly vertical sided, slight tilt with an irregular base. Function uncertain at the moment, have to check Mellaart's floor levels to decide whether it was a crawl hole or window or ---- ? The opening was blocked, represented by feature 59. Again because of the absence of records from the previous excavations it's not known whether the blocking took place during occupation of this space or when the wall was built over by the next phase. This wall, as with wall 51 dividing spaces 107 and 108, is well contsructed on both faces as it is a party wall, with clear horizons of brick and mortar. Anwens wall had some really long bricks over 2.00 m long, were these constructed in situ or transported? Ali has just begun to excavcate unit (1074), underlying the wall, at the moment it's unclear as to whether this is some form of levelling or 'midden'. To the north Anwen is digging a foundation cut at the corner of the wall, filled by a clayey deposit and has just revealed a scapula within the fill, that someone is bound to say is a ritual deposit! Ruth helped Mira excavate wall 51 yesterday and continued today whilst Mira began her various brick studies and experiments. Wendy is working on the section through the threshold of the opening in wall 51, it's a wonderful section, a two coursed brick threshold step which may be continuous with the lower courses of the wall for the whole space. The step appears to be deliberately cut into the 'midden' and what I previously thought was a plastered face on either side is now seen to be salt deposits. The step then has a series of plaster floor applications. I forgot to mention Jons wall which is becoming very complex, maybe I'll leave it until tomorrow, it may be a bit more clear.Entered By: Shahina Farid |
