Wednesday, 4 July 2018

AM

Work continued this morning on the cleaning of the baulk walls with methodology remaining the same as yesterday. The majority of the eroded strip running along the bottom of the baulk walls has been cleared so the emphasis for the day has shifted to the horizontal straightening of the walls. In areas where there is a heavy amount of dirt to be leveled out, hand picks will be used. In areas where there is a small amount of dirt to be leveled out, the tip of the trowel will be used to gently scrape down the dirt. The soil from this area of excavation is very hard and crumbles easily in certain areas of the baulk wall. Light scraping will continue until the hardened soil is removed just enough to reveal a fresh layer of soil underneath that has not been changed by constant exposure to the elements. Materials found within this area of excavation will continue to be sorted and collected the same a yesterday with architectural tile counted in a large bowl. Pottery sherds and bone will be bulk collected and sorted based on their section number.

PM

Work continued on the baulk walls post-lunch. While scraping back Section 4 of the baulk wall (the southern face of the T-22 extension) a tondo fragment was found. The fragment appeared to contain traces of a red slip and was therefore categorized as supplemental special find. Coordinates and elevations were taken and will be sent down to the magazzino for further examination.

Supplemental Special Find #1: Potential slipped tondo fragment

Coordinates: 170.93 E/50.09 S

Elevation: 26.98 m. A.E.

Daily Totals:

Architectural terracotta: ¼ bowl

Pottery sherds: 8

Bone fragments: 0