Introduction

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Excavation on the Tesoro Plateau in the south-east area of the Southern archaic courtyard began in 1980 with the opening of Tesoro 22 ( LR I ).  A number of nearby extensions exposed interesting architectural features, including a series of stone lines running perpendicular to each other ( GD I 1982 ), and work by Elaine Marchese in 1998 established a continuous stratigraphic pattern which linked the upper Archaic Building to the southern defense wall.

In 1991, a T-22 west extension was opened by NM V in order to recover more architectural pieces from the archaic period; to search for evidence of orientalizing activity in the region; and to better explore the topography of the southern courtyard.  However, this trench failed to fully meet these objectives and it is with these goals in mind that T-36 is being established on the Tesoro plateau.

In addition, T-36 is intended to compliment other work currently taking

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place on the Tesoro plateau.  A series of extensions to T-30 that have also been opened this season seek to establish the existence and orientation of a possible light-framed Orientalizing structure first recognized in the 2003 season ( AGG/CNT I , CED I , and CED II ).  Excavations in T-36 may help to clarify the orientation of this architectural feature, should it be identified.

T-36 will be established with boundaries at S52/E166; S52/E170; S56/E166; and S56/E170 on the master grid system.  The absolute elevation of our datum point is 28.98 m on the master grid system.

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