| Entry: | Today we finally managed to lift skeleton 10813 (feature 1709) in space 112. Some interesting developments occured during the removal of this skeleton. Three flint objects had been visible below the right tibia of skeleton 10813 for some time, but after removal of this bone two more flint objects were found, and a pointed object made from antler. It has been suggested that this antler point was used for working flint (Rebecca Daly) but this needs to be further investigated. Stringy (Tristan Carter) came over and said that such a large amount of flint objects in a burial were unique, and have so far not been found. These objects were in clear association with the skeleton 10813, because they were located below the tibia and above the ribs. It seems they were positioned at the interface of the chest and stomach, on the right side of 10813. The group of objects were collected as cluster 10835, and given x find numbers (see drawing 004/914).
Below these object and in some other areas of the burial were reddish brown depositst, sometimes with white patterned spots that could be phytoliths. Two soil samples were taken. The first (sample 1) is located below cluster 10835, where the soil was reddish to grey brown, and there were white paralel lines, suggesting that there may been wood. The second (sample 2) was located directly north of the spinal colum, and the soil here was reddish brown, with numerous white spots the size of a needle prick. I should add that as is was removing the skeleton I became increasingly sceptical that these sampled soils do in fact contain organic residues of wood or cloth or something similar. The reason for this is simple. The reddish brown patches were all located below the bones that had most suffered from post depositional processes, they were located below the scapulae, the vertebrae, the pelvis and the ribs. On the other hand no red brown patches were found below the more solid parts of the skeleton, such as the long bones and the skull. Thus it seems to me that some form of leaching is most probably the cause for the reddish brown patches observed.
The removal of 10813 made it clear that its relation to 10814 is diffuse. The right foot of 10813 directly underlies the the right femur and tibia of 10814. On the other hand bones of 10814 were found directly below 10813. It is clear that the burial of 10813 (feature 1709, cut 10830) disturbed the earlier burial event in which 10814 had been placed. The precise boundaries of the cut 10830 remain to be established, as the relation of this burial and burial f. 1709 to the large cut feature 1702. Hopefully these issues can be clarified on 25-07-04, when the exposure of 10814 will continue.Entered By: Bleda During |
