Trench D6 Daily Journal      August 13, 2002

First a note on todays dayplan: Slag and small finds are listed on the right due to space constraints, and are marked by number on the map. Slag is indicated by a filled circle, and areas of multiple finds are outlined.

We focused removing all the debri around L20, and started both in L29 and L6. In L6 we began by removing the loose mudbricks from around the South Wall finding more stacked mudbricks and one set across the chamber (a bit similar to those in L25 and 27) Unfortunately these were removed before I could photograph them, and I did not gather as much information as I wanted. After this had been cleared we had a clear view of another single chamber furnace, similar to L14 but with a more narrow opening. The North wall has a thin coating of slag, and we found 4 pieces scattered around the current floor, both in front, inside and along the interior walls. We took soil samples at two levels. Later we returned and Baris excavated down in the South another ~20cm, finding first normal soil with little debri and later dark ash soil. He also found much slag, duly noted on the day plan.

The debri in L29 continued down. We found more slag, removed lots of bricks and cleaned and photoed. We also reexamined the lower portions of the L20 chambers and noticed a set of bright blue green slag, bringing our total of types up to 4 (muted green, black/grey, crackled, and the blue green). We did not notice any evidence of any drains or other routes for material entrance/exit. In the afternoon we headed out again and pushed down ~12 cm in two sessions over the South 1/2, photoing and changing bags between. The first ~5 cm revealed more mudbrick collapse, including an extremely orange area. On scraping this I noticed it was quite soft and thought to take a portion as a separate sample. A little under this orange surface the soil turned a rich brown and became very soft and ashy. I included this soil in the sample and followed the ash ~7 cm. In the second session I removed the fully articulated mudbricks and then troweled around to learn where the areas of loose soil were, and then swept back. On doing all this I discovered quite a bit of slag, including a large piece attached to an even larger brick near the center.

We also concentrated in L14, and pushed that down ~12 cm finding a new surface to the East (not yet named), that the South wall of L14 abuts the large flagstone to its south, and that our mouse has made its burrow through the bottom rear of the chamber. This surface sits above surface L37 by about 4 cm but also abuts the large flagstone, leaving both the possibility that its and new surface and the possibility that L17 rises up as possibilities. In the bottom center of the chamber we found bright red/pink mudbricks, and to one of these was a coating of slag (KT 55). In addition to this we found slag all across the current level of the bottom of L14, which combined with the surface leads me to believe we are near the bottom of this furnace.