August 17, 2000

Final day of digging. We took plan shots of L1043, Elvan's street. Then we removed the rocks and flattened to the level of L1037 to the East. After rocks were removed from L1039, L1043, I called the dirt below L1052.

We were beginning to clear L1048 back a few cm to search for lines when a small hole about 5cm in diameter was opened. At first I supposed it to be another animal hole. But it was quite deep. Finally, looking in, I saw a clearly defined circle about 5cm intot he hole - a pot rim for a large pot. The rest of the day was spent digging out this pot. We dropped a corner of L1044 on the East side by 45cm. That gave a good section on L1047 which allowed me to see how far down the bricks went. Farther down it is hard to find lines, but there is still the same solid reddish material. That lasts almost 35cm down until an obvious plaster surface is hit. We dug through that 10cm as ash began to come up. It will be interesting to explore that surface next year. On the East of the pot, I dropped the South part of L1048 60cm. We didn't make it too far through the surface on this side. However, there are definitly bricks in L1048. They are very collapsed and at a funny angle. I left the North part to be used as a study section for this locus in the future. The East side should give an idea of the extent of L1049, though I couldn't see anything right away.

The interesting thing is that the pot was sitting about 5-10cm into the surface seen at the bottom of L1047. I believe they could be related as the plaster seems to creep up on the side of the pot as if it was laid after the pot was put in place. The pot was cracked on the South side due to roots growing through it, but it is relatively whole in the rest. The great thing is there is not too much dirt inside, hence the original large hole we spotted.

I believe the mud brick collapses of L1047 and L1048 to be lying on the surface. We dug out the pot, taped it up and carried it home. We had to dig a large concavity in the baulk. We call this locus L1053. It extends South about 0.3m, it is 1.3m wide and 0.9m high.