Thursday, July 27 2017

AM

Soil in Loci 9 and 10 is too wet to excavated, so we have begun by trimming the baulk walls of the 2016 section through EPOC4’s floor, to the S of Loci 9 and 10.  In trimming the E wall, the dark gray, burnt deposit of Locus 10 appears to continue to the south and likely is the same burnt deposit that was exposed in the 2016 section.  While trimming the baulk walls, we decided to bulk find slag and vitrified terracotta.  We also recovered large quantities of tile, plaster, and pottery, but little bone.  We also recovered four crucible fragments (Finds #112, 113, 114, 117), a tooth (Find #115), and a bronze fragment (Find #116).  Soil from the section baulks are screened through 1 cm and 2 mm gauge sieves.

As we continue to work on the walls of the 2016 section, we also found more evidence for metalworking, recovered from the burnt deposit that has been designated Locus 10 in the T90 2017 section.  We found a bronze fragment (Find #118), a crucible fragment (Find #119), and a large piece of ferric slag (Find #120).

By mid morning, Loci 9 and 10 were under direct sunlight and beginning to dry out, but still were too wet to excavate.  Therefore, we continued trimming the baulk walls of the 2016 section cut, focusing mainly on the E, W, and S walls, as the N wall will be removed as we excavate Loci 9 and 10.  We did quickly clean up the N wall of the 2016 trench sounding to clarify the stratigraphic relationship between Loci 9 and 10.  Locus 9, the compacted red deposit, appears to overlie the burn black deposit of Locus 10.  The surface of Locus 10 seems to slope downward, both from N to S and E to W.  Therefore, we will excavate Locus 9 first and remove the red deposit, in order to fully reveal Locus 10 across out section through EPOC4’s floor.

As we trimmed the eastern and southern baulk walls, we found two more crucible fragments (Finds #121, 122) and a bronze fragment (Find #123).

Special Finds:

Find #112

• Baulk trim 2016 section: NE corner
• 107.62E/43.96S
• 26.28m A.E.
• Crucible fragment

Find #113

• Baulk trim 2016 section: S wall
• 107.09E/45.83S
• 26.23m A.E.
• Crucible fragments

Find #114

• Baulk trim 2016 section: S wall
• 107.40E/45.75S
• 26.19m A.E.
• Crucible fragment

Find #115

• Baulk trim 2016 section: E wall
• 107.57E/44.25S
• 26.20m A.E.
• Tooth

Find #116

• Baulk trim 2016 section: E wall
• 107.53E/44.66S
• 26.19m A.E.
• Bronze fragment

Find #117

• Baulk trim 2016 section: E wall
• 107.48E/45.27S
• 26.22m A.E.
• Crucible fragment

Find #118

• Baulk trim 2016 section: E wall
• 107.53E/44.63S
• 26.15m A.E.
• Bronze fragment

Find #119

• Baulk trim 2016 section: E wall
• 107.55E/44.55S
• 26.21m A.E.
• Crucible fragment

Find #120

• Baulk trim 2016 section: E wall
• 107.51E/45.23S
• 26.22m A.E.
• Ferric slag

Find #121

• Baulk trim 2016 section: S wall
• 107.16E/45.78S
• 26.14m A.E.
• Crucible fragments

Find #122

• Baulk trim 2016 section: E wall
• 107.57E/44.98S
• 26.30m A.E.
• Crucible fragment

Find #123

• Baulk trim 2016 section: E wall
• 107.46E/44.89S
• 26.20m A.E.
• Bronze fragment

PM

As Locus 9 is now dry enough to excavate, we will spend the afternoon working in Locus 9.  Locus 9 is a compacted, red deposit that overlies Locus 10, the burnt, dark gray deposit; we can see that Locus 9 overlies Locus 10 in the N section wall of the 2016 section.  The soil of Locus 9 is not only compacted, but rich in plaster, pottery, and slag.  When we began excavating, we first lifted the medium-sized stones scattered throughout the locus.  Beneath these, we found what appears to be the neck and shoulder of a fineware oinochoe (Find #124), five pieces of slag (Finds #125, 126, 128, 129, 130), and two pieces of vitrified terracotta (Finds #127, 131).  Soil is hand sorted in the trench and the first five buckets are screened through a 1 cm gauge sieve then set aside as a flotation sample.  All subsequent buckets will be screened through 1 cm and 2 mm gauged sieves.  After finding five pieces of slag, slag will be bulk found.

We also began to find large quantities and large fragments of plaster with preserved reed impressions and flat surfaces, perhaps indicative of a wattle and daub structure underlying and predating EPOC4.  We recovered four such fragments of plaster (Finds #132, 133, 134, 136), along with another crucible fragment (Find #135).

Special Finds:

Find #124

• Locus 9
• 107.53E/43.04S
• 26.52m A.E.
• Fineware neck and shoulder sherd

Find #125

• Locus 9
• 107.50E/43.43S
• 26.39m A.E.
• Slag

Find #126

• Locus 9
• 107.82E/42.50S
• 26.53m A.E.
• Slag

Find #127

• Locus 9
• 107.29E/43.52S
• 26.36m A.E.
• Vitrified terracotta

Find #128

• Locus 9
• 107.24E/43.55S
• 26.36m A.E.
• Slag

Find #129

• Locus 9
• 107.23E/43.60S
• 26.36m A.E.
• Slag

Find #130

• Locus 9
• 107.40E/43.53S
• 26.36m A.E.
• Slag

Find #131

• Locus 9
• 107.06E/43.71S
• 26.35m A.E.
• Vitrified terracotta

Find #132

• Locus 9
• 107.25E/42.10S
• 26.51m A.E.
• Plaster with reed impressions

Find #133

• Locus 9
• 107.21E/43.81S
• 26.33m A.E.
• Plaster with reed impressions

Find #134

• Locus 9
• 107.25E/42.10S
• 26.51m A.E.
• Plaster with reed impressions

Find #135

• Locus 9
• 107.52E/43.15S
• 26.47m A.E.
• Crucible fragment

Find #136

• Locus 9
• 107.19E/43.32S
• 26.36m A.E.
• Plaster with reed impressions

Locus 9:

• Tile and plaster: 1 bowl
• Pottery: 24 sherds
• Bone: 2 fragments
• Slag: 10 fragments

Baulk trim 2016 section:

• Tile and plaster: ½ bowl
• Pottery: 56 sherds
• Bone: 21 fragments
• Vitrified terracotta: 58 fragments
• Slag: 116 fragments