The morning was spent laying out a new trench for Katie in WSAC. The new operation, WSAC2, continues the line of the northwest baulk of WSAC to the end of the room toward the south west. The intent in creating this operation was fourfold: to expose the top of the wall between WSAC and WSAD and thus hopefully also resolve the confusing situation in the doorway between the two rooms; to focus more intensively in one of the two rooms with the aim to eventually expand to the other half of the room in the northwest and assemble a complete artifact assemblage from one room; to pursue further the stone features encountered in WSAC--both the flagstone floor and the enigmatic cluster of stones in the south corner of that operation; to expose a possible doorway between WSAC and another room to its southwest, which is not clearly visible on the surface but suggested by the gap in the surface architecture in this area of WSAC2. Most of my labor was concentrated today in WSN (a bit crowded), where we completed locus 25, excavated locus 26, and 27. In general, we're still in the characteristic dark to medium brown wash deposit. Material densities are high. A cluster of stones in the eastern quadrant (locus 27) remains to be clarified but appears to be wall fall. The bottom of locus 26 ended with traces of orange clay peeking through along the northeast wall. Tomorrow the area adjacent to the wall will likely be segregated as a distinct locus from the rest of the northeast quadrant of the operation. Small finds from WSN today include an iron tool of some sort and a ceramic disk. As for WSI2, Ruben and Adam visited today for an extensive consult. We agreed on the following course of action: clean the feature of locus 20 in its current condition and allow Lilit to draw it as is (today she worked on re-drawing the walls that Hasmik drew last year). Then cover the feature in anticipation of Mickey's visit on Saturday (I'll also call Inessa Karapetyan tomorrow to see if she will be available for a consultation). Eventually, I will further excavate locus 20, approaching it from the north/northwest, where there is less clarity than on the other side. Also, it is still necessary to excavate the interior of the "box" further. Once the feature is thoroughly recorded and photographed, I will excavate much of what remains of the packed clay matrix. Ruben suspects that this entire construction may correspond to a later phase of use in this room, built against or above the courses of stones that project to the north and east corners of the room (loci 28 and 29). Only excavating the feature will reveal whether it sits atop a continuous row of stones that link 28 and 29. If it is situated between them, as it would now appear, or leans against a continuous line of stones, then we cannot exclude a single construction episode. Ruben also infers multiple building phases on account of the fact that locus 19 seems to partially obscure the column base below, but here too, I'm not sure I agree. The flat stone of the proposed base is still exposed and indeed much resembles the similar feature in WSI, on the other wall of the room. Returning to locus 20, I am beginning to think that the entire box was composed of four walls each of which was double-slabbed with stone and ceramic components. That is, just as in the rear of the box, as well as on the north side, there is a double facing, so too it is possible that the large fallen fragment of the ceramic "tray" at the southern perimeter of the feature once bolstered the the box on the southwest side, where at present there is only a single slab. What is at issue is whether the fragments of large flat ceramic and stone strewn about the feature served as foundations for some sort of packed clay platform (although the clay in this area never seemed to constitute anything so regular) or whether they fell out of context after the entire feature was in use. Adam opened the possibility that the entire "box" is not in fact man made, but the result of some sort of collapse that smashed the large ceramic tray or platter into pieces. This seems implausible given the right angles that form the corners of the "box". As for the dark brown linear streak toward the front of the feature that wraps around it to the north, my current thinking is that this represents the decay of some sort of organic material, whether wood (a plank of some sort) or rope(?). Much remains unclear. Yet the order of elaboration, the centrality of the feature, the way in which it is framed by other stone features of unusual scale, all suggest a special purpose room (note the large size and unusual abundance of probable bases for pillars--perhaps as many as six). Cultic perhaps? A locale for displays of authority, ritual, receiving hall, etc.? At the end of the day, two workers were hired to guard the feature (will do the same tomorrow). Also, three workers hired to break a large boulder in WSM2.