Today was a busy day in T38 on the western slope of Gegharot! Picking up where Armine left off yesterday, I began the day by photographing the newly articulated face of wall (locus) 15. We then began the seemingly indefinite process of cleaning up (and out) locus 13. In this process, we further traced wall 9. It became clear that our previous understanding of the curvature -- as defined through the establishment of locus 16 -- was slightly off. The structure (with interior locus 7) appears to be larger than previously anticipated. Locus 16 (accordingly) has been redefined. While it still refers to the area outside of the architectural unit this is north and east (rather than only north). It will include that which is below locus 13. 16 is differentiated from 13 based upon the soil matrix and greater presence of in situ materials rather than simply collapse from wall 15.
While we were in the process of cleaning the unit we had a few surprising encounters. The first of which was the presence of a human cranium and other elements in the area immediately to the west of locus 14/15 below locus 13. These human remains appeared directly next to (south of) the large stone that I previously interpreted as a capstone. Needless to say, their presence was not anticipated. Due to the presence of stones, it is unclear if this marks an intentional burial. It is likely that we found the associated mandible with this individual last Saturday given that it was located approximately 20cm away from where we encountered the cranium. Thus far, the human remains are situated in close proximity to stones that are about 30-40cm in size -- not typical of a formal EB burial sheath/ covering. Tomorrow we will proceed in this area by extensively cleaning, taking photos, and then strategically removing some of the stones. It will be interesting to see if the area contains an entire (articulated) skeleton and if there is another individual(s) under the capstone. The relationship between this will be particularly interesting to uncover.
Near the recently exposed northern part of wall 10 (in locus 11) -- the potentially enclosed area -- we found what appears to be a small in situ and complete EB vessel. This shows promise that we are near cultural levels and are starting the process of in situ operations!