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Code
LK11.28
Season
2011
Narrative

We spent the day cleaning WSN in preparation for Lilit to draw the interior features. This entailed exposing another slab of the flagstone floor in the southern corner (here it seems that the floor is covered in a packed clay--the surface of the floor may have covered this stone, at least in the later life of the room). It also entailed removing the enigmatic clay matrix of locus 61, just adjacent to the northeast wall, and bringing this area down to the elevation of locus 61 elsewhere. Also, we worked extensively in the west corner, particularly in locus 58 and 64. After removing a stone from the latter that seemed out of place, we exposed quite clearly an oven installation marked by a ring of stones that enclose an area filled with burnt earth, some burnt bone, and some pottery. A charcoal sample was collected as well as a soil sample for MB. We also continued to define the outer edges of this hearth feature, including the stones that appear to line it on either side, projecting perpendicular to the northwest wall. In locus 58, we removed stones that seemed unconnected to the main feature, the rectangular box, and collected considerable amounts of pottery from this small area. Cleaned extensively, Still embedded in the floor of locus 64 are several large fragments of platter or hearth parts akin to those from WSI2. Interesting developments in WSM3 today as well. In cleaning the northeast edge of the trench we identified an area, to the north, where there are no large wall stones (indeed no stones at all). This supports the notion that a doorway connects WSN and WSM in this general area. However, the presumed doorway seems to extend further to the north, beyond the limits of WSM3. In addition, the northeast wall of WSM3 is irregular, which a few stacked large boulders in the west corner leading to a series of smaller stones, some aligned, toward the north corner that do not conform to the masonry we usually have for our walls. Smaller stones. Moreover the surface architecture just to the north of WSM3 seems to hint at an annex--the "outer" wall of WSN that Lilit drew seems to be the inner wall of the annex, which ends with a line of stones that met the wall of room L. I considered opening an extension of WSM3 to the north, but am reluctant to do so at this late stage in the season. Instead, I dug a probe in the tiny corner of WSN that would appear to fall within the area of the presumed annex. If the annex hypothesis proves valid, I will pursue an extension. As of the end of the day, it was encouraging to see that the large boulders that mark the northern side of the annex are resting upon another row of large boulders. But it's a bit concerning that the line of stones that seems to define the furthest limit of the presumed annex on the basis of surface architecture appears to be floating. In any event, it is important to stress that there does seem to be a blockage to this annex (if it is indeed even an annex). It's just that the masonry of this blockage is quite different from the masonry of the main wall.