Unit 22196

Category: Skeleton    dug in 2016

Area: North 

Interpretive Categories: skull 

Data Category Information: none

Discussion: This unit sheet refers to a skull found into an organic container (X1) lying on the bottom (-25 cm from top of infill 22194) of burial F 3808 (southern side of platform F3811, space 154).
North-east oriented, the skull was covered by a red pigment (according to a preliminary microscope analysis the pigment is rich in mercury and can therefore be interpreted as cinnabar) that is now just partially preserved: almost 0.1 cm thick on the fragments from the upper part of the cranium, it is 0.3/0.4 cm thick on those found over its southern side, towards the right frontal part of the face. Apparently the pigment was concentrated in the upper part of the skull only: no colour traces were in fact visible on the mandible, but a closer inspection will be necessary in order to confirm what is just an hypothesis.
Some part of the skull were covered by a sandy and smooth white layer very similar to plaster: it is possible that at least some part of the skull (the inferior ones?) were plastered, althouhg it was not very clear and no sample could be taken. It is also possible that over these pigment/plaster layers was another organic layer, as the presence of a thin phytholits' concentration seems to suggest: in this case the skull would also be covered by some kind of textile/matting. On the other hand it is also possible that this phytholits layer was part of the container itself.
During the removing of the skull, 2 distinct samples were collected from its inner part (S6-7): due to their consistency they could be related to the presence of specific organic material. Also in this case it will be necessary to wait for more detailed analysis in order to confirm or disprove this hypothesis.
The container of the skull (X1), which was situated towards the south-eastern side of the burial, had a squarish shape (35x40 cm). Its eastern side seems to have a vertical margin of at least a couple of centimeters: this might suggest that the container was a basket. On the bottom of it was a flat and round piece of mineralized wood (X5; S8) wich looks pretty much like a plate. Over it was lying a thin phytholits' layer that might be the same that was covering the skull. Over the latter one was the fragment of another organic layer that (S3), that might look like leather. In order to confirm or disprove these hypothesis it will be necessary to wait for the phytholits' anslysis (S1-2, S4-5).
Associated to the skull unit is also a serie of objects that have been found inside its container. Together with the other items situated outside of it (see unit 22194) they are the grave items of F 3808. The reason why these items have been associated to different unit numbers is to maintain the distinction that had been established since the origin of the deposition: between those inside and outside the container.
Items attributed to the skull unit sheet (22196) and lying inside the container (X1): a shell (X2) that stands vertically against the eastern side of the container and 2 flint daggers (X3-4): X3 was located under the southern side of the skull and was pointing towards east; X4, shorter than the previous one, was located under the mandible and pointed towards west.
Even if a clear correlation between skull 22196 and skeleton 22195 can't be establish, it is possible that the two distinct groups of human remains belong to the same individual: the skull was in fact missing in 22195, plus the skull and the group of overlaying bones were extremly close to each other. Due to the lack of clear stratigraphical distinctive traits between them (continuity in the infill) the delay between the 2 distinct depositions might have been short.
[NB: target A=T10; target B=T11; target C=T14; target D=T15] 

X and Y of Targets: Target A - X: 1041.01; Target A - Y: 1192.98; Target B - X: 1041.64; Target B - Y: 1192.91; Target C - X: 1041.03; Target C - Y: 1193.73; Target D - X: 1041.67; Target D - Y: 1193.58 

Body:  

Head:  

Right Arm:  

Left Arm:  

Right Leg:  

Left Leg:  

Other comments:  

Surface Modifications:  

Unit Stratigraphy (as recorded in the field): above: (Click to view the record) 22193 below: (Click to view the record) 22194 

Skeleton Same As: 22195

Total Deposit Volume: 2 

Number of Samples recorded by excavator: 13

Number of X-Finds recorded by excavator: 5

Number of Related Diary Entries: 2

Settlement Phase:

Associated Mellaart Levels (from Space): Unassigned at present 

Associated Hodder Level (from Space): Unassigned at present 

Finds Room Information:

All material from site passes through the finds room for washing and separating before it is passed onto the various lab teams. The finds room keeps a basic inventory of what is found. A finds material type list is given here. Further analytical detail maybe provided by the Lab Team data below.

X Finds Material: nothing recorded  

Finds Material Stored: nothing recorded  

Lab Team Data

Please note the list below does not represent everything that might have been found in this Unit, but represents the datasets we have available on-line. Please contact us to obtain more information about this Unit.

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