Daily Trench Journal

Area D

Trench 8

May 30, 2005

This morning we began by bringing down L62. With this finished the entire trench was at the same level except for L65, L66 and pit L58 which is still present. I began to articulate wall L65 after we removed the fill which was under floor L66, we had left a 5cm barrier of fill against the edge of wall L65. The wall was very hard to articulate because there is almost no difference in the soil. I am able to do it by pushing a trowel horizontally into the fill which we left next to the wall and popping it. The soil will break at the brick line as the non-wall fill pops away.

After breakfast we brought down L64 10cm with a large pick. As we were doing this we were able to see the edges of a pit. The area where the pit, L68, was had had ash coming up through the soil before. L68 is .9 by .86m and roughly circular. It had a clear bottom of packed soil which was cracked and pitted and seemed almost brick like. There was no bone but quite a few pieces of pottery. When Bradley and Bekir looked at the pottery from this pit and from the surrounding loci there were quite a few ubaid sherds. As we were taking down L64, which the pit is within, and we took out the pit several bricks came up at the edge of the pit. I took one as a soil sample for the pit locus 68 but I could go with the surrounding fill locus L64.