Daily Trench Journal

Area D

Trench 5

July 25, 2002

Today our focus was preparing for the imminent baulk reduction on the next field day, Saturday. We traced the grain surface, L5098, to what appears to be its N extent under both L5117 and L5100. I also saw to removing the pedestalled area of L5087 and L5107, which were remnants of central area surrounding grain feature L5095 and on the S of pit L5085. They had been left standing to help maintain a good context break between the two very different periods found in the contexts on either side, but the prospect of people running around and tripping on them during the baulk reduction didn’t seem very desirable, so I had them removed. It was something that needed to be done in the near future anyhow, as we finally appear to be reaching the end of both contexts.

The remainder of the day was spent directly preparing for the baulk reduction. All major potsherds were pulled. Sandbags were partially filled and placed to completely cover the grain surface and support the walls of the mudbrick structure and the exposed W wall of oven L5111. Finally, a couple tarps were placed covering the entire area of the trench. Hopefully damage from the baulk reduction will be minimal.