Daily Log

57

Monday, July 6, 2015

AM

Work began by scraping and leveling the trench floor, avoiding the Locus 3 rock packing in the NE corner of the trench. This was done in order to clarify the soil differences first observed on Friday. In the center of the trench, in the northern meters, there is a light yellowish gray, loose soil while in the eastern part of the trench, south of Locus 3 , soil is a darker yellowish brown and is claylike. This darker soil, which is still Locus 2 soil, appears to extend across the southern meters of the trench, to the larger rocks in the SW corner, and may extend to the smaller rock packing in the NW corner of the trench as well, although these rocks are at a higher elevation than the newly exposed, pale yellow, loose soil, which at the moment is confined to the center of the trench. No materials have been recovered from this new soil and in color it resembles galestra, but it is far looser than naturally occurring galestra, which is extremely dense. Some pottery and bone were recovered in the eastern part of the trench, in the darker Locus 2 soil south of the Locus 3

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rocks, but very little tile was found. Hardly any materials were recovered from the rock packings in the western meters of the trench. Soil was hand-sorted directly into buckets in the trench.

PM

Work continued in the afternoon by continuing to scrape and level the trench floor using handpicks and trowels, in order to better reveal soil differentiations. In the eastern meters of the trench, south of the Locus 3 rock feature, soil is darker brown and claylike. It is similar in the westernmost meters of the trench, although the soil here appears to be a bit looser; there may be a soil change here, but a few more cms of soil must be removed before we can determine if there is a soil change. Soil in the central meters of the trench is notably lighter in color; it is yellowish gray. It resembles galestra and no material was recovered from this soil, but it is far looser than galestra.

Once the floor of the trench was scraped and leveled, there was a clear, ovoid-shaped patch of pale yellowish soil in the northern half of the trench, in the central meters. Darker brown soil entirely surrounded the new yellowish soil. Therefore, this ovoid

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patch of soil was strung off, in order to separate it from the surrounding Locus 2 , and Locus 4 was opened in the patch of new yellowish soil. Opening photos and elevations were taken.

Locus 4 opening drawing

Opening elevations: Locus 4

\xb7 34.22S/87.19E: 26.98mA.E.

\xb7 34.69S/88.22E: 27.02mA.E.

\xb7 35.34S/88.03E: 26.97mA.E.

\xb7 35.35S/87.61E: 26.96mA.E.

\xb7 34.87S/86.92E: 26.93mA.E.

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We worked in Loci 2 and 4 simultaneously. Handpicks and trowels were used in both loci, where soil was hand-sorted directly into buckets in the trench. The soil of Locus 2 continues to be darker brown and claylike and contains some pottery but little tile. The soil of Locus 4 is light yellowish brown. Its color resembles galestra and only one piece of tile was recovered from underneath a root, so the locus appears sterile, like galestra, but it is far looser than galestra usually is.

Closing elevations for the day were taken.

\xb7 NW corner: 26.98mA.E.

\xb7 88.54E/34S: 26.95mA.E

\xb7 89E/35.48S: 26.93mA.E.

\xb7 SE corner: 26.93mA.E.

\xb7 SW corner: 26.85mA.E.

Locus 2 :

\xb7 Tile: 1/20 bowl

\xb7 Pottery: 37 sherds

\xb7 Bone: 1 fragment

Locus 4:

\xb7 Tile: 1 fragment

\xb7 Pottery: 0 sherds

\xb7 Bone: 0 fragments

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