Locus 46 was a soil deposit infilling a rectangular cut into EPOC4’s floor (Locus 47), situated in the southwestern quadrant of T90. The Locus 47 cut and infilling soil measure approximately 120cm in length and 80cm in width.

The soil of Locus 46 consisted of a dark grayish brown soil with some mottling and limestone, charcoal, and terracotta inclusions. The soil deposit of Locus 46 was fairly compacted on its upper surface, but became much looser after approximately 5cm.

Locus 46 was excavated using hand picks and trowels, soil was hand-sorted in the trench, and a soil sample was collected for flotation; the soil sample collected for flotation was not sieved, so as to not damage any potential ecofacts that may be contained in the deposit, but once the sample was collected, we sieved soil through 1cm and 2mm gauge sieves.

Locus 46 contained relatively high quantities of material culture, including tile, plaster, pottery, bone, and charcoal; despite the relatively small size of the locus, 159 fragments of pottery, 11 fragments of bone, 7 fragments of slag, and approximately half a bowl of tile and plaster were recovered. Additionally, we took a charcoal sample (Sample #1) from this deposit and recovered two carbonized seeds (PC20230045, PC20230046).

Locus 46 infilled Locus 47, the rectangular cutting into EPOC4’s plaster-rich floor (Locus 53). It overlay Locus 48, another soil deposit infilling the cut of Locus 47. Chronologically, we believe that the deposit of Locus 46 likely dates to the period of EPOC4’s abandonment, as the cut of Locus 47 may have contained some other sort of material that has not survived archaeologically; alternatively, it may also date to the life of EPOC4.