Vitrified Terracotta Summary

We found high quantities of vitrified terracotta in T90 in 2017; we recovered nearly 1 kg of vitrified terracotta.  This number is exceptionally high, given that vitrified terracotta is lightweight and that nearly all the vitrified terracotta found in T90 came from a roughly 1.5 square meter area.  The vast majority of vitrified terracotta came from Locus 10, which is the earliest of all strata excavated in 2017.

There are three discernible chronological phases in T90 and the quantities of vitrified terracotta recovered correlate to these chronological phases.  The earliest chronological phase is that predating the construction of EPOC4 and consists of Loci 9 and 10.  The middle chronological phase is the functional floor surface of EPOC4, which corresponds to Locus 8.  The latest phase postdates the occupation of EPOC4 and is associated with the construction of a small, rectilinear building over the remains of the front porch of EPOC4.  Nearly all vitrified terracotta found in T90 came from contexts associated with the earliest chronological phase, that predating EPOC4.

We recovered the vast majority of vitrified terracotta from Locus 10, a black, charcoal-heavy, burnt deposit underlying the floor of EPOC4.  Here, we found 609 g of vitrified terracotta, or 64% of all vitrified terracotta recovered from T90 in 2017.  In Locus 9, the other stratum predating the construction of EPOC4, we only found 57 g of vitrified terracotta, but in conjunction, 70% of all vitrified terracotta found in T90 came from strata predating the construction of EPOC4.  Vitrification is caused by exposure to intense heat and in T90, may have resulted from a fire or from smelting copper ores.  The composition of Locus 10 soil, which contained high quantities of carbon, strongly indicates that intense burning occurred in this area prior to EPOC4’s construction, while the exceptionally high quantities of slag and crucible fragments found in Locus 10 suggests that the extraction of copper ores and bronze production occurred here as well.  Both events or activities could result in vitrification, and so the vitrified terracotta accords with the ceramic, slag, and stratigraphic evidence from Loci 9 and 10.

We also found relatively high quantities of vitrified terracotta in Locus 8, the beaten earth floor surface of EPOC4.  Here, we recovered 93 g of vitrified terracotta, or 10% of the vitrified terracotta assemblage.  This indicates that the activities producing vitrified terracotta in the earliest occupational phase continued during the occupation of EPOC4.

In contrast to these first two phases, we found only small amounts of vitrified terracotta in the loci associated with the final occupational phase represented in T90, that of the small, rectilinear building overlaying EPOC4’s floor.  In Loci 1-7, we found only 94 g of vitrified terracotta, amounting to just 9% of all vitrified terracotta found in T90 in 2017.  This indicates that the activities producing vitrified terracotta, burning or copper extraction and bronze production, stopped after the abandonment of EPOC4.