Daily Log

37

Tuesday, 1 July, 2008

AM

Work began with a light pick pass of the western-most meters of Locus 11 , starting in the NW corner and moving south.  This was done in order to better expose the carbon-rich, burnt soil visible in the NW corner.  This burnt soil appears to be sloping downward, both to the south and east and has been exposed up to a cluster of rocks located just south of the northern baulk.  Soil is claylike and heavily mottled, containing terracotta and carbon.  Soil is sorted in the trench directly into buckets.  A number of bronze fragments were found, and so it was decided to establish a bulk bronze box, for all unremarkable bronze fragments.  Additionally, a sherd of painted pottery (Find #1) and a decorative piece of incised bone (Find #2) were recovered.

Diagram of trench

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A second pick pass of the westernmost meters was completed, again to further reveal the heavily carbonized, burnt soil extending south.  This pick pass only extended approximately 2m south though, for in the southern portion of the trench there may be some sort of tile concentration; for now, this area will be trowelled in order to better reveal the quantity and positioning of the tiles.  The soil of Locus 11 continues to be heavily mottld, claylike, and contains much tile, plaster, ceramics, and large pieces of carbon.  Soil is sorted directly in the trench into buckets.

Both the NW corner and southern half of the locus were excavated with trowels, in order to better reveal the burt soil and the possible tile concentration, respectively.  The burnt soil continues to appear, sloping down from the NW corner to the south and east, and often, directly atop this burnt soil, ad the bottom of the heavily mottled soil, patches of yellowish, claylike soil appear; these patches are not significant enough though to constitute their own locus.  Additionally, a fairly large number of small rocks have begun to eappear south of where the burn layer has been exposed.  To the south, although there is a large quantity of tile, his does not seem to be a true tile deposition or concentration.  During this work, a small

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bone fragment with a guilloche pattern (Find #3), a sherd of painted pottery (Find #4) and a small fragment of decorative incised bone (Find #5) were recovered.

Finds

20080134

20080134

• Find #1
• Locus 11
• 53.71S/195.82E
• 26.06m A.E.
• Painted pottery sherd
• Drawing

20080013

20080013

• Find #2
• Locus 11
• 54.41S/195.78E
• 26.13m A.E.
• Decorative incised bone fragment
• Drawing

20080012

20080012

• Find #3
• Locus 11
• 52.85S/195.82E
• 25.98m A.E.
• Bone plaque fragment with guilloche
• Drawing

20080009

20080009

• Find #4
• Locus 11
• 53.92S/195.85E
• 26.06m A.E.
• Painted pottery sherd
• Drawing

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20080016

20080016

• Find #5
• Locus 11
• 53.99S/195.91E
• 26.06m A.E
• Incised bone fragment
• Drawing

PM

Work continued this afternoon with a pick pass of the entire locus.  This was done to try and expose more of the burnt soil already visible in the NW corner.  The southern portion of the locus was picked as well, for it was clear that there is no definite tile concentration there.  Soil remains claylike and heavily mottled and is sorted directly in the trench.  Soil in the eastern-most meters of the trench is notably less mottled, specifically containing less carbon and terracotta tiles.  During this pick pass, a bronze nail (Find #6) and an odd piece of tile with a projection (Find #7), as well as another decorative, incised bone fragment (Find #8) were recovered.

Locus 11

• Tile and plaster: 3 bowls
• Pottery: 79 sherds
• Bone: 30 pieces
• Bronze: 15 fragments

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Finds

20080007

20080007

• Find #6
• Locus 11
• 53.40S/196.69E
• 26.01m A.E.
• Bronze nail
• Drawing

• Find #7
• Locus 11
• 52.87S/197.51E
• 25.99m A.E.
• Odd terracotta
• Drawing

20080015

20080015

• Find #8
• Locus 11
• 53.87S/196.68E
• 26.09m A.E.
• Incised, decorative bone
• Drawing

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