While finishing going down in Locus 4, in the NW corner, we found a small conical object made of antler, with flattened sides (Ar/Ge.T31.4.B.01) at 2284.41 masl. In the NW corner, we also found a small piece of groundstone (Ar/Ge/T31.4.L.02) at 2284.46 masl. We also found part of a ceramic object (Ar/Ge.T31.4.CO.08), which might possibly be an andiron fragment, in the NW corner at 2284.50 masl. We took a radiocarbon sample (Ar/Ge.T31.9.C14.01) from the lower portion of the beam that is Locus 9, as the lower portion of the beam was too decayed to take as a sample. Also in the NW corner we found another small piece of groundstone (Ar/Ge.T31.4.L.03) at 2284.43 masl.
We opened a new locus (Locus 10) which covers the eastern part of the trench. After taking down the SE corner 10 cm with shovels (while screening), as we approached the NE corner, we hit a small patch of virgin (orange) clay, near an antler base and a rock sitting at about the same level. In the afternoon in the NE corner of the trench, we found a small pit (Locus 11) with a portion of a wooden artifact inside. The matrix of the pit is a black, silty loam. The wooden artifact (Ar/Ge.T31.11.W.01) looked roughly T-shaped from the top, but after pulling it out, the best theory is that it is the foot of a piece of furniture.
It is possible that the thin, flat, scattered lenses of black matrix seen in the clay layers, both coming down through them as well as in the section, are a result of discrete events of dumping ash in small amounts (e.g. a few baskets at a time, not all in the same place). This theory, however, does not explain the presence of the burned beams, both flat and angled in the clay layer. It is possible that they were removed while cleaning up after the earlier destruction event, but only C14 dating can address that.