Daily Log

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July 5, 2001

Having seen a large number of tile scattered across the floor of locus 7 it was decided to bring down the level of the floor in locus 6 and the new extension locus 8 to see whether the tiles were merely caught in the tree roots or perhaps part of an ancient surface.  Lower the floor around locus 7 would give us a window into what may be occuring here.  We began the day with a pick pass on locus 6 but almost immediately pulled up several "chunks" of tile and thus switched to excavating with trowels.  This led to us finding several tiles laid out across the floor which may link up with the tiles in locus 7.  The rest of the day was spend defining and finding more tiles which is starting to look, perhaps, like an ancient surface.

Material recovery for locus 6 were:

Terracotta  1/2 latte box (essentially all roofing tiles)

Pottery  10 pieces, all impasto

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Upon finding this tile spread in loci 6 and 7 we decided to bring down the floor of the extension to the level of locus 6 tosee if the "ancient surface" extended further then loci 6 and 7.  Pick passes were put in locus 8 until we reached more soil.  Material recovery for locus 8 were as follows:

Terracotta   1/4 latte box

Pottery       6 pieces, all impasto

Special finds   ridged pottery (p. 72 )

Final closing depths for locus 8:

261 S 281 E    44.5 cm b.d.

261 S 282 E    45.4 cm b.d.

263 S 281 E    51 cm b.d.

263 S 282 E    51.1 cm b.d.

center             61 cm b.d.

After a baulk wall trim locus 9 was established spanning from 261-263 S and 281-282 E.  Opening depths for locus 9 are the same as the closing depths for locus 8 as they covered the same area.  Pick passes were put in.  The new soil was a light brown soil with less organic material then locus 8.  9 also semmed denser and more fine.  Material

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recovered from locus 9:

Terracotta   1/4 latte box

Pottery       5 pieces- 4 impasto, 1 orange impasto

Locus 9 closing depths for the day:

261 S 281 E    65 cm b.d.

261 S 282 E    56 cm b.d.

263 S 281 E    61 cm b.d.

263 S 282 E    65 cm b.d.

center             64 cm b.d.