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Thrusday, July 13 2023

AM

We began working in Locu 45, the loose, claylike, mottled deposit associated with the abandonment and destruction of EPOC4; we are working to remove this deposit in order to expose the underlying plaster-rich floor of EPOC4. We are excavating using handpicks and trowels, hand sorting soil in the trench, then passing soil through 1cm and 2mm gauge sieves.

Today, rather than trace the surface of EPOC4 and work from northeast to southwest, we are beginning in the southwester half of the locus, to lower the areas with the highest elevations and create a more level trench floor. In the SW meters of the Locus, we are recovering less material culture than in the NE meters, although we are still recovering relatively high quantities of pottery. Additionally, in the northwest quadrant of the trench we have recovered three crucible fragments (Finds #32-34) and a large fragment of slag (Find #35).

As we are excavating deeper into the Locus, we again are finding high quantities of pottery and slag and moderately high quantities of plaster, bone, and vitrified terracotta. We also recovered another crucible fragment (Find #36) that was pressed up against

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The interior face of EPOC4’s southern foundation wall. We also found additional crucible fragments (find #37), a fragment of ridged bucchero (Find #38), and a cut out akroterion fragment (Fnd #38). We also recovered a fragment of bronze from the sieve when sieving soil excavated in the southern part of the locus, along EPOC4’s S foundation wall (Find #40)

Special Finds:

• Special Find # 32

• Locus 45

• 104.89 E/ 45.12 S

• 26.35m A.E.

• Crucible fragment

• Special find #33

• Locus 45

• 104.73 E/45.03 S

• 26.39m A.E.

• Crucible fragment

• Special find #34

• Locus 45

• 104.82 E/44.67 S

• 26.40m A.E.

• Crucible fragment

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• Special find #35

• Locus 45

• 105.38 E/46.48 S

• 26.32m A.E.

• Large fragment of slag

• Special find #36

• Locus 45

• 105.58 E/46.57 S

• 26.27m A.E.

• Crucible fragment

• Special find #37

• Locus 45

• 104.61E/45.29 S

• 26.40m A.E.

• Crucible fragments

• Special find #38

• Locus 45

• 105.23 E/46.44 S

• 26.31m A.E.

• Ridged bucchero fragment

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• Special find # 39

• Locus 45

• 105.12 E/46.14 S

• 26.28m A.E.

• Cut out akroterion fragment

• Special find #40

• Sieve find

• Locus 45

• 105.106 E/46.10-46.60 S

• +/- 3 cm: 26.28m A.E.

• Bronze fragment

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PM

We continued working in Locus 45 to remove the mottled deposit in order to expose the plaster-rich floor of EPOC4. The floor surface slopes downward from N to S and from E to W, so we have to excavate much deeper in the SW part of the Locus than in the NE part. We are continuing to excavate with trowels and handpicks, hand sort soil in the trench, then pass soil through 1cm and 2mm gauge sieves. We are continuing to recover very high quantities of pottery, high quantities of plaster and slag, and moderate quantities of bone and vitrified terracotta. We also recovered a fragment of omphalos vessel (Find #41), a bronze fragment (Find #42), and a coronated bucchero fragment (Find #43) in the sieve. In the easternmost meter of the locus, we also recovered a possible skyprios handle fragment with a projecting element (Find #44).

By the end of the day, we came down on EPOC4’s plaster-rich floor in the SE corner of the Locus.

Locus 45:

• Tile + plaster: ¾ bowl

• Pottery: 356 sherds

• Bone: 48 fragments

• Slag: 47 fragments

• Vitrified terracotta: 14 fragments

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Special Finds:

• Special find #41

• Locus 45

• 106.14 E/46.13 S

• 26.25m A.E.

• Omphalos vessel fragment

• Special find #42

• Locus 45

• *Found resting on EPOC4 floor*

• Bronze fragment

• Special find #43

• Locus 45

• 106-106.50 E/46-46.77 S

• 26.26m A.E.

• Possible skyphos handle with projecting element

• *resting atop EPOC4 floor

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