Daily Log

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June 17, 1987

A.M.

The plastic protective sheets over meters J-O/90-97 to the east were begun to be removed to allow drying. The floor was quite damp particularly in the lower areas. Overall it seemed that the preservation remained quite good in this area.

The remaining fill was lifted from I-L/95-95 and most of the plastic pulled. The rock in IJ/94-95 remained covered as did a line from I/92-95. This was the area where vandals had removed earth from the balk and floor covering and had scattered tiles and plaster. At 70-80 cm a heavy, very distingushable burn layer appeared. This stratum was black in color and contained tiles, pottery of both coarse and finer fabrics and a great deal of blackened bone (about latte box). Interestingly, no vitrified material has yet been found here and the tiles and ceramic showed heavy blackeneing but little or no disfigurement or vitrification. This layer had just been cut into

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while removing backfill. Excavating the burn stratum will proceed as follows: al backfill and soil above it will be removed in layers preserving the top of the black stratum intact. The few chunks that were initially removed were carefully gone through to find the above mentioned material. In addition to allowing better visualization of the layer, the removal of the upper layers here will allow the black stratum to dry a bit as it was very wet. All material from this stratum was kept separate.

In K/95-94 a alyer of small and medium sized stones was found projecting in an East-West direction towards the end of the floor. These were cleaned down in the hopes of further determining if they fell or were placed here. About ½ latte box of pottery (mostly impasto) was found here with the odd tile and plaster fragment.

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P.M.

Work continued clearing down the rocks in K/94-95. Most of the soil from here was very similar to the ‘galestra’ found in J/95 during 1986. Very little pottery was found. Most of it was in very small pieces even if coarse. A couple of pieces of tile in the vicinity were identified, cleaned and left. This "wall" or group of rocks extends off the so-called end of the building in roughly the same direction except it angles off somewhat south.

The north baulk was cleaned up to in meters I/91-92. To the eadt lay a rock area[see final drawing for T-26 1986 A.C Books V and VI summaries] which will be cleared down more slowly due to the ivory prevalent here. Noticeable on the balk wall was a heavy concentration of plaster, some of it in large pieces, beginning at about .60 cm down from the surface.