Began today by splitting crew of 6 into two parts, 3 working in WSAC to remove Locus 21, the darker matrix in the western corner, and to clean the walls and sweep the floor for photographs. In the morning in WSAD, I had Heik work on removing Locus 20, the soil matrix in the area of the doorway in the western corner of the operation, underneath Locus 4. The soil is the dark, loamy soil of the overburden. Heik cleaned a significant amount in this area, and the guys took three large rocks out, which are likely rock jumble from the blocked doorway, and broke them.
In WSAC, we cleaned the surface and the area of rockfall next to the wheelbarrow ramp/stairs in the center of the SW baulk. I took photographs, than talked to Lori and decided to take out the stairs in order to get a complete shot of the floor, Locus 22. Most of the darker soil material, from the overburden seen in the rest of the trench, was put in Locus 19; the brown matrix underneath was added to Locus 20. However, consisted with the rockfall to the south of the ramp, was another pile of larger rocks, which I left in place until the morning for the real photographs. Many of these larger stones appear to be embedded in Locus 22, suggesting that the floor might be some centimeters underneath. This rockpile also adds confusion as to the slope of the floor/Locus 22, as the southern and western corners are about 25 cm below the northern and eastern, a considerable slope for a floor. Also, the floor has not yet appeared in any cross section/baulk, although it is possible we are directly on it or just above it.
In the afternoon in WSAD Gagik and I worked in feature 16/Locus 17, the stone feature in the eastern corner of the operation, and tried to clear some of the matrix around the stones to see another course. I would like tomorrow to remove the matrix around it for this reason. Inside the feature, the matrix is very mottled and does not appear to be too deep; other flat stones are appearing. The connection between this feature and the NE wall of the room is also intriguing and should be more clear tomorrow.