| Entry: | A few days have lapsed since I made my last diary entry. The walls to the N and S have been recorded and partially excavated. Jon worked on the S wall or non-wall as it turned out, to the S of 106. There appears not to have been a S wall, or possibly not until a higher level as in the N wall. A cut (1643) in the SE corner of this space was identified in section only, filled by (1527), (1630), (1634) and (1639). To the N of this space Atakhan and I began excavating wall 61. We didn't get very far as wall 61 was constructed over an earlier wall which wall 67 is partilly constructed over, but the S wall of space 113 is constructed against wall 67 and that wall is not ready to come out yet. Further east we think we have a sequence to the walls but these relationships can only be truely understood by excavation. The wall 61 exersize certainly reminded us all how misleading sections can be. Over the last few days Carolyn has been trying to find out why most field archaeologists are loath to excavate in section, there are many reasons but one important one for me is that a section can inform on the events in one particular location through time but 5-10 cms further in, the storey will change, and also sections rarely solve problems over a wide expanse of area. Anyway the walls, at the moment it appears that wall 67 postdates wall 56, west wall of 105, which postdates wall 58, east of 106. The west face of space 114 has at least 5 phases of wall, a couple of which are possibly stubs that Mellaart left. These would be better phased as excavated. The west end of the S wall to 105 has been drawn and the top courses can probably be removed. The abutting S wall would also need to be reduced in height as they certainly wont remain intact over the next year. Cicek is making great headway in space 116. She's still in space fill of a very mixed nature but today the top of some feature has turned up, something like a thin wall for a storage bin or hearth. Roddy and Mary are further defining space 117, still no W wall, but I think any day now. Ali and I have been excavating pretty fast track now, the remaining midden layers to the W of 115, now that all the fiddly cuts have been dealt with. Naomi, Jessica and Banu are working in space113, Mellaart house 7. They're deling with bits that Mellaart left and drawing the wall elevations. It would be really nice if we could get those walls out by the end of the season. Jon is on site on and off now, dealing with his pottery and Anwen and Atakhan have been on their 3 days off. The sad news is that Lindsay and team didn't manage to remove the wall they'd been working on. They made 2 drills finally and successfully after weeks of bad luck through equipment holdup at customs. And then it rained. Such a valliant effort, so close---, they'd planned to work all night by lamp light until 4am when a taxi would whisk Lindsay off to Ankara. I'm not sure what's going to happen now, will depend on Connie, Ian and what Evan can do given that he has his own work to do.Entered By: Shahina Farid |
