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Thursday july 27 2023

AM

We began working simultaneously in Licus 51 and 52. In Locu 51, the soil deposit of the location of the rectangular cut into EPOC4’s plaster-rich floor (Locus 47), we are lifting the small stones and app. 5cm of soil to determine if we are at the bottom of the cut. The soil deposit on the perimeter of the locus is galestra, it is yellow and gray in color, flakey in texture, and is compacted. The central area of the locus contains a concentration of charcoal, but this charcoal-rich deposit also is resting atop galestra. Notably, we are recovering moderate quantities of pottery and small quantities of tile, bone, and slag, and all the recovered material culture has come from the charcoal concentration. Finds include two pieces of bronze (Finds #97, 98). We are excavating with trowels, hand-sorting soil in the trench, then collecting soil for flotation; we are not sieving soil, in order to better preserve any ecofacts that may be recovered from flotation. We are also working in Locus 52, removing the darker grayish-brown, mottled deposit in order to more fully reveal EPOC4’s floor. We are

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Continuing to work from S to N, as EPOC4’s compacted earthen floor has already been exposed to the S of Locus 52. We are excavating using hand-picks and trowels, hand sorting soil in the trench before passing soil through 1cm and 2mm gauge sieves. We are recovering moderately high quantities of pottery and some bone, but little tile, plaster, slag, or vitrified terracotta. Specifically, we recovered a possible sherd of coil-made pottery (Find #99) and a piece of carved bone (Find #100) from the sieve.

There are a series of 3 large stones (max. Dimensions 50cm) that are running linearly from N to S, and likely project southward from EPOC4’s N foundation wall. To the south of these 3 large stones is a cluster of smaller rocks (max. Dimensions 20cm) that appear to be loosely aligned with the large stones. Moreover, there seems to be a looser, sandier soil ringing both the larger stones and the concentration of smaller stones. We are trying to level the surface of Locus 52, both to expose EPOC4’s earthen floor and to better observe any soil changes, which would help us to determine whether the stones are an architectural feature or not.

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We continued working in Locus 51, working from E to W and removing the concentration of charcoal in the central area of the locus. The charcoal concentration is continuing to overlie galestra and there is nothing to distinguish the galestra underlying the charcoal concentration from the surrounding galestra deposit. Therefore, it appears as if we are reaching the bottom of the Locus 47 cut. All material culture continues to be found in the charcoal concentration. Here, we are recovering moderately high quantities of pottery and some bone and slag. Additionally, we found a ridged rim (Find #101), an iron sphere (Find #102), and a large slag fragment with a flat side (Find #103).

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Special Finds:

• Special find #97

• Locus 51

• 105.74 E/45.94 S

• 25.93m A.E.

• Bronze fragment

• Special find #98

• Locus 51

• 105.81 E/46.24 S

• 25.97m A.E.

• Bronze fragment

• Special find #99

• Locus 52

• 105.04 E/41.49 S

• 26.57m A.E.

• Possible coil-made pottery

• Special find #100

• Locus 52

• Sieve find

• +/- 10cm: 105.60 E/41.10 S

• +/- 2cm: 26.50m A.E.

• Carved bone fragment

• Special find #101

• Locus 51

• 105.59 E/46.32 S

• 25.86m A.E.

• Ridged rim

• Special find #102

• Locus 51

• 195.50 E/46.21 S

• 25.85m A.E.

• Iron sphere

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• Special find #103

• Locus 51

• 105.36 E/46.02 S

• 25.87m A.E.

• Large slag fragment with flat surface

PM

We continued working in Loci 52 and 52. In Locus 51, we continued excavating from E to W, removing app. the upper 5cm of the locus, in order to remove all of the charcoal concentrated in the central area of the locus. At this point, we have removed nearly all of the charcoal and determined that galestra both surrounded and underlay the charcoal concentration. As we remove the last of the charcoal concentration, we are recovering less material culture, although we did find a coaseware handle (Find #104) in some of the remaining charcoal-included soil, located along the S wall of the Locus 47 cut. We also are sieving soil again, as we collected a sufficiently large soil sample for flotation this morning. In Locus 52, we are continuing to remove the darker, mottled soil of the deposit, in order to expose EPOC4’s earthen floor. As we find preserved patches of the floor, it seems to be level with

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Preserved floor to the south of the locus, even though floor is preserved at a higher elevation in the NE quadrant of the trench. As for the aforementioned line of stones running N-S from EPOC4’s N foundation wall, these large stones, along with the concentration of smaller stones to the s of the 3 large stones, seem to be situated in a looser, darker soil that is similar in appearance to that of Locus 52. This suggests that the large stones may be an architectural feature; a footing trench may have been dug and these large stones placed in this footing trench, which then was infilled with soil from Locus 52. Moreover, there are few portions of preserved floor surface in the northern part of the locus, in the area of the stones. If the large stones are an architectural feature, they may postdate EPOC4 and so could have disturbed EPOC4’s floor. Lastly, there are two strips of gravely yellow soil running N-S along the E and W ends of the locus. Both deposits have been devoid of material culture and so may be natural. While working in Locus 52, we recovered fragment of burnt and worked bone that is domes in shape (Find #105) and a rocchetto fragment (Find #106).

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We removed the remaining 5cm of soil along the western edge of Locus 51, exposing galestra across the entire locus. There is no further evidence of burning or that the galestra was cut into. This also appears to be the base of the Locus 47 cut, which is app. 40cm deep with vertical walls. While removing the last of the charcoal concentration, we recovered a diagnostic bone fragment (Find #107). While sieving the last of the Locus 51 soil, we recovered a diagnostic bone fragment (Find #108).

Locus 51:

• Tile + plaster: 41 fragments

• Pottery: 123 sherds

• Bone: 15 fragments

• Slag: 3 fragments

• Vitrified terracotta: 0 fragments

Locus 52:

• Tile + plaster: 34 fragments

• Pottery: 126 sherds

• Bone: 58 fragments

• Slag: 0 fragments

• Vitrified terracotta: 0 fragments

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Special finds:

• Special find #104

• Locus 51

• 105.23 E/46.28 S

• 25.94m A.E.

• Coarseware handle

• Special find #105

• Locus 52

• 105.88 E/40.92 S

• 26.57m A.E.

• Carved bone: domed

• Special find #106

• Locus 52

• 104.40 E/41.78 S

• 26.60m A.E.

• Rocchetto fragment

• Special find #107

• Locus 51

• 105.11 E/46.04 S

• 25.93m A.E.

• Diagnostic bone

• Special find #108

• Locus 51

• +/- 5cm: 105.05 E/45.95 S

• +/-2cm: 25.93m A.E.

• Diagnostic bone fragment

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• Special find #109

• Locus 52

• Bone box find

• +/- 50m: 105.75 E/41.25 S

• +/- 5cm: 26.57m A.E.

• Possible neonatal bone fragment