Last night, the workers removed some of the rockfall in the eastern end of T19. The materials removed from underneath the rocks that were taken (above the level of L508) were bagged as L512. In the burn layer in this locus, we found a two-handed mano (Ar/Ge.T19.512.L.01) at a depth of 2283.36 m.
In L508, there is a stain of black soil, which might possibly be a post hole, but is somewhat uneven, with another, more diffuse stain to the NE, both of which are just west of the “berm” feature from L506, at a depth of 57 cm below the datum (2282.91 m). After removing the large stone in the center of the locus, we found a small piece of groundstone (Ar/Ge.T19.508.L.01). Also under the rock were tiny pieces of charcoal and black staining, at the same level as the stains west of the “berm”. West of the rock that was removed is a small, extremely hard packed clay surface (1m x 0.5m x 3 cm), which is north of the “berm” feature. In the eastern part of L508, we found some charcoal just east of the unexcavated area next to the northern wall of the trench, at a depth of 2282.96 m, collected as Ar/Ge.T19.508.C14.01. The soil NE of the “berm” feature is a very dark brown, in contrast to the area SE of the “berm” which is a light yellow/brown. The soil is mottled in the SW corner, ranging from yellow to dark brown, where as in the SE it is entirely yellow and in the NE it is dark brown. We found a polishing stone (Ar/Ge.T19.508.L.02) and a “bottle stopper” (Ar/Ge.T19.508.CO.01). Further down in L508, we found a curvilinear black stain which connects up with the “berm” feature, even though it is not level with it, the lower part being located at 2282.81 m.
In L509, we found another small piece of groundstone (Ar/Ge.T19.509.L.02). In the NW corner of L509, another large ceramic sherd was found at 2282.60 m. It is possible that we are coming down on a new cultural level.
At the bottom of L511, some ceramic sherds from a broken pot were found under the ceramic lining of the hearth, right on the border between the dark black soil characterizing the hearth and the light brown/yellow soil underlying it. While they were collected as part of L511, they may not actually belong to the feature.