| Entry: | We're still pretty much in the same type of deposits as were described two days ago. It was Ciceks last day on site today, she'll be working on residue sorting and mary will continue excavation in space 116. Since this area began on the 2/9 seven layers have been excavated to a depth of about 0.5m. A section was established to the S and once the features in the NW corner were articulated a further section was set up against the outer feature wall. The fills of this space are predominantly mixed clay and rubble debris with charcoal flecking, although some of this might represent collapse or deliberate destruction of the walls, the mixed nature suggests some of these deposits are redeposited from other areas. The fills in space 117 are also similar in their accumulation, differential layers of brick debris and mixed clayey and charcoal layers. Layer (1692) comprises large fragments of brick and mortar, plaster fragments with very little 'rubbish' mix, covering the entire area under excavation, ie. W and S walls are not defined. To the W of space 115, midden layers post wall 77 have been excavated. Having spent much of the season excavating these fine lenses of ash and clay in small units we now feel justified in excavating these deposits in larger units, even then it is fairly slow as the traceable tip horizons are not so easy to follow. Wall 77, that represents a mid VII and VIII phase, in Mellaarts terms, is interesting in that it puts a relativly lengthy time span for the use of the area as a rubbish ground. The wall cuts an earlier phase of midden and then later midden has accumulated against it. It'll be intersting to see whether this is reflected in the artefacts. A small area of plaster survives in situ to the N facing face at the E end, a continous appliction on floor and wall, fairly crude and on a slope from E to W, on much the same slope as the midden deposits. The wall had a small FT cut only traced at its E end to the N but visible to the S also ( not excavated yet). To the W, wall (1518) hadn't been fully excavated nor FT cut (1614) for the S wall of sapce 107, full excavation released the numerous cuts seen in the W facing section of space 108. There appears to be a small cut under the NW corner of wall (1518), this cuts a larger circular cut that cuts wall 77. There may also be a further cut below (1518) to the SE. The cuts below the wall may be associated with the wall construction as consolidation pits, the more we find the better for this interpretation, or they may pits represent midden extraction cuts for re-cycling in the production of bricks and mortar or whatever. The oven in space 113 is being half sectioned and tat he moment it appears to be the base remains and associated scorching of the oven Mellaart shows on his plan. Anwen and Atakhan have almost finished taking down the upper courses of walls that were under danger of collapse. Tomorrow Mary will take over space 116, Jon will be back and I might get him, Anwen and Roddy in space 117, maybe even Atakhan, this until Ali and I release the central area, then maybe we'll all take a bash at the last of the midden.Entered By: Shahina Farid |
