Today Maureen and Levon worked with me at Kurgan 2 again today. This morning we photographed the western chamber and then Lilit drew it. After that, I began to remove the faunal remains from the western chamber. By the end of the day, all of faunal remains except for the portions of Loci 108 and 109 which were under Locus 26. At the end of the day we removed the vessels (Loci 24, 25, 26,105, and 106) from the chamber.
The femur near the censers (Loci 24 and 25) is complete, but was put in the pit broken, as the proximal and distal epiphyses were facing each other in-situ. Locus 108 and 109 had one of the upright legs each. Locus 108’s unfused elements are: calcaneus, distal tibia, distal metatarsal, 1st phalanx, proximal femur, proximal tibia, vertebrae, ulna, distal humerus, proximal and distal metacarpal. Locus 108’s fusing elements: distal femur. While removing the skull from 108, I recovered the hyoid, but there doesn’t seem to be an atlas or an axis.
The individual in Locus 109 has unfused: 1st phalanx, 2nd phalanx, proximal and distal tibia, proximal femur, pubic symphasis, calcaneus, distal metatarsal, and vertebrae. The right femur had a patella in-situ, but the tibia was not articulated with the femur. The right tibia was placed under the articulated left hindlimb. This indicates that the right hind leg was severed at the knee, and then the lower part of the limb was placed below the left hind leg and pelvis.
In the central chamber, we continued to clean the northern part of the chamber (Locus 102). It turns out the ribs from the western part of the locus connected up to the innominate in the eastern part of the locus. This means that the vertebrae and ribs and legs are from the same individual. In light of this, I have designated these faunal remains at Locus 112. The individual in Locus 112 is partially complete and laying on its back, and it is missing its head and forelimbs. The top of the spine was much higher than the hips, but there was no change in the matrix that might indicated it was resting on something organic, which suggests that the pit was partially filled before the animal was placed in.