Today Levon and Maureen worked with me at Kurgan 2.
In the central chamber, we began by cleaning the walls and continuing to clean around the skeleton (Locus 27). We continued to open the northern half of the central chamber, to expose the area north of the low wall, in preparation for photographing and removing the skeleton. I have designated the northern half of the central chamber as Locus 102 and the southern half as Locus 104.
The skeleton (Locus 27) in the central chamber, around the innominate, appears to be resting on a tan clay surface. We located the rest of the bronze belt (Ar/Ge.K2.18.M.01), near the right arm of the skeleton. Looking at the position of the body in the central chamber, it appears possible that the upper courses of the low wall may have slumped over the body and that the base is further to the north.
While cleaning in Locus 102, we uncovered an articulated set of vertebrae (medium mammal) and the tips of some ribs nearby. It appears that the articlated skeleton may take up most of the locus. Due to the cramped nature of the space, we have decided to clean the human skeleton (Locus 27) first and then to expose the situation in Locus 102, so that we can have a photograph showing them in relationship to each other.
I have designated the western chamber as Locus 103. We cleaning in the eastern half of the locus, we had to remove some of the pieces from the top of the black censer (Locus 25). The vessel below Locus 25 is a walnut-shaped vessel and is Locus 105. There are various animal bones on top of the vessel, they appear to be medium mammal ribs, a possible medium mammal vertebral body, and another bone that I couldn't identify. The soil around the vessel has a lot of white mold. Just north of Locus 105 (walnut-shaped vessel), there is a proximal femur (med. mammal, probably pig) and a distal femur (med. mammal).
In the eastern half of the western chamber, we came down up what appears to be the bottom of the pit, a tan clay matrix like the one lining the sides of the pit. The matrix in Locus 103 is very mottled with tan and dark brown clayey soils, and there is a lot of white mold. The edges of the chamber are much softer than the matrix of the locus itself. The sides of the pit seem to be very roughly cut. The soil around the neck of the walnut-shaped vessel (Locus 105) is more sandy than the surrounding matrix. The is a small lens of loose medium brown silty-clayey matrix around the sherd near Locus 24.
In the western chamber, along the northern edge, we found and collected a small piece of charcoal (Ar/Ge.K2.103.C14.01). We also found a black sherd just NE of Locus 25. Underneath Locus 24 (black censer) there is a small cup (Locus 106).