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Code
KK10.21
Season
2010
Narrative

Another day of bailing out water in the morning from both WSAC and WSAD, rendering screening Locus 17 of WSAC somewhat impossible until the soil had dried significantly. Instead, I started the guys off by extending both operations WSAC and WSAD 1 meter to the NE, to allow Hazmik significant room to see the tops of the stones of the NE walls in these rooms. Locus 15 was opened in WSAD to account for the removal of the topsoil in this 1 by 5 meter area, including the removal of weeds and roots around the rocks, although not many artifacts were found/noticed. As well, in WSAC I opened Locus 18 as the extension, for the same matrix of topsoil and roots and weeds.
After these areas were cleaned I decided to reduce the size of the wheelbarrow ramp in WSAC, which had become too large for the operation and was taking up potentially interesting room on the possible floor as well as a stone to the west of the ramp. I opened Locus 19 as the overburden of the ramp, the darker soil that corresponds to the overburden in the rest of the operation. However the guys dug a little too far and there was some mixture with the brown matrix underneath. This matrix I designated Locus 20, and this constitutes the brown/clay/organic matrix seen elsewhere in Locus 6 and Locus 11; it was also full of artifacts. The guys significantly reduced the area of this ramp, to a space about .8 m wide and 1.5 m long. An irregularly shaped stone is now clearly visible to the west of the ramp, and it might be a candidate for a column base because a) it appears to be resting on a flat surface, with a flat top, and b) it has some evidence of plaster coating. However, its placement near the SE wall of room WSAC, and specifically near the potential doorway, is somewhat odd, as is the lower elevation of this stone to the eastern corner of the operation which might not even be at a floor yet. Lori and I poked around in Locus 17 in the eastern corner and discussed the possible placement of a floor either above this locus (so I therefore missed it) or beneath it (since some of the stones of the wall clearly continue below the current elevation, and there are the tops of rocks appearing in Locus 17). However, an orange clay is appearing which Lori thinks might be a treatment below the floor, indicating that I have already passed it somewhere in Locus 17. I might leave Locus 17 as this 1 m area in the eastern corner as a test area, and continue until I find either floor/flagstone floor/bedrock.
At the very end of the day I had the guys sweep down WSAC and start removing Locus 14 in WSAD, which constitutes the same brown/clay matrix seen in WSAC, and starting in the northern corner. This locus will therefore include the area that used to be Locus 8 in the eastern corner.