Today we began by cleaning the surfaces of the floors in both WSAC and WSAD; in WSAC, Gagik cleaned feature 30, the area of jumbled rocks in front of the doorway, which is resting on the floor. We removed several of these rocks, and underneath were more stones of the floor. However we didn't remove all of them; some that suggest artificial arrangement were left, including a line of three stones extending NW from the linear stone feature against the SE wall. WE also kept the ones abutting the SW baulk, in order to wait to see if there is stone from the paved floor beneath them, or soil. I took one charcoal sample from this feature today that is rather large. While it is clear that the stones we removed were not simply fall, it is difficult to think of what they would be without any other artifacts from this locus. The area directly in front of the blocked doorway, in the southern corner, could be another feature like 26 in that it is deeper than the floor, and contained a slightly different matrix, however it is also confusing and perhaps next year if we extend this operation we can ascertain the nature of these stones more clearly.
In WSAD, we declared and removed Locus 30 as the remaining soil in the northern and eastern areas of the operation that sits above the paved floor, abuts Feature 16, and in which several of the stones of the floor are embedded. However this locus proved difficult to excavate as both the matrix was hardpacked from days of sitting exposed in the dust and heat, and mottled with different colors. It appears, as of today, that the floor extends to the NE, but there are confusing gaps with no stones between where the floor 'ends' (about 2.5 m into the operation from the SW) and feature 16 in the eastern corner. It is also confusing since it is possible that more stones of the floor exist, but are at a much lower elevation in the NE area of the operation. There are also a lot of porous/scoria-type rocks appearing, what seems to be more frequent than in the floor in WSAC. It is therefore difficult to tell whether we are on a floor or are blowing through one, especially in the northern corner where the soil is extremely hardpacked. However the stones of Feature 16 do appear to continue down, suggesting that the floor is beneath the current elevation in this area. I did however take two bags for soil analysis from Locus 30, once we realized that we were coming down on more paving stones. The soil is from roughly 5-10 cm above the floor.
We ended half an hour early today to have a final party for Lori's departure; hopefully in the morning on Monday the soil is not as dry and we can both clean and ascertain the matrices in WSAD.