Daily Trench Journal

Area F

Trench 21

June 11, 2005

J. Nijhowne

Today we started at 5 AM rather than 6 due to the heat. I asked Bradley to look at the 1x1 locus 8 to get his opinion on whether we had a surface. At this point, the elevation in locus 8 was 569.48. The rest of the trench, locus 7, was about 14 cm higher. Since the elevation of the base of the surface in F6 baulk is 569.43, Bradley advised me to level the entire trench to the elevation of locus 8. We did this by going through the matrix with large picks. For recording purposes, I combined locus 7 and locus 8. All information is recorded under locus 8. Again, this is an arbitrary locus.

After finishing locus 7/8, I designated the next level locus 9. We reset the 1x1 to its former position. The rationale was to find a surface we could follow through the trench. Also, it is a time saving practice because there was no point in taking down the trench to virgin soil if the surface either ended in the western baulk or didn’t extend over the entire trench. After resetting the 1x1, we excavated only 5 cm carefully with trowels and handpicks. We did come across stones and gravel but they were discontinuous and didn’t form anything that looked like a surface. I double checked the elevations. The elevation I took in locus 9 was 569.41 and the surface in F6 was 569.42. Again Bradley looked at it and couldn’t see a surface either. He advised me to bring the rest of locus 9 down to 569.41. The workman started north with handpicks but it appeared they started to hit virgin soil. Bradley suggested we abandon locus 9. It remains partially excavated and also explains the irregular shape on the top plan. As a last ditch effort, I designated the 1x1 locus 10 and took it down to virgin soil. At this point, we decided to close the trench.