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Code
LK15.05
Season
2015
Narrative

Most of the work today focused on the southern side of the trench, in the area of the extension. We gradually removed a great many small and large stones that were in no apparent alignment, in the hopes of identifying a southern wall. But no such luck yet. Even the larger boulders in this area were 'floating' or atop small stones. In the course of excavating locus 9 (which today was expanded to cover the entire surface area of the extension), we did identify a continuation of the lower wall (2 stones of it). This wall now appears to stop abruptly, which is a bit odd. It also is looking less curvilinear now, since the two additional stones extend linearly to the south. I also created locus 10 today to capture the orangey clay matrix in the northern area, which is visible along the edges of the operation. In general, the architectural situation in the operation is confounding. While it seemed all by certain that the presence of two adjoining stones in the NE corner, at 90 degrees, meant that we would be digging inside a room, we're having trouble following the continuation of these "room" walls. It's difficult to determine how impactful was the vandalism in creating this confusion. But for now, this much is clear: the rap, walls were quite poorly constructed. Only 1 course is extent in the NE corner. I still think we are seeing 2 construction phases, but it is peculiar that there is no clear stratigraphic gap between these 2 constructions, except perhaps in the NE, where there is the so-called small "stone floor" and adjacent to that, a clayey matrix to the south that is visible in the east baulk.