Today, as a result of the short Gegharot hiatus, I was able to be driven by Katchig to Mirak along with three workers to begin excavating at Mirak. After speaking with Ruben the previous evening and looking at the drone photos we agreed that the first trench would be on the lowest NW terrace below the circular outer wall of the Mirak fortress. This probe is in order to identify what activity, if any, was taking place on the terraces as well as if materials have washed down from the fortress. The trench is not expected to yield much and should only take a few days so we are digging it before any other areas that are more likely to reveal materials and/or architecture. the next two areas of interest include a walled room and the depression it has created in the center of the fortress and, after that, a western terrace wall up against the wall in order to reveal architecture and anything in front of the wall. My workers are Narek (16), Arman (16) and Armen (17). This is also their first excavation. The first trench is named Mirak Operation 01. It is a 2mx2m trench someplace above the edge of the terrace somewhat in a line with the room above within the fortress. Our back dirt pile is located downwind of the trench several meters to the NW of the trench. The datum as well is located NW of the trench and is the nearest large basalt rock about 3m away. I took photos of the trench before removing the topsoil as well as some of the landscape during this process. Locus 01 descends 10cm and is comprised of a soft dark brown soil that yielded no finds. Finding no obvious changes in soil we measured each corner and the center and began Locus 02 descending another 10 cm. This Locus yielded two pieces of obsidian. There was no change in soil except the inclusion of some small bits of tuf and basalt throughout. Measuring all four corners and the center we descended another 10 cm as Locus 03. This Locus yielded one piece of obsidian. Again with no change in soil and the continuation of the inclusion of small rocks we took depths and started Locus 04. Locus 04 went down another 10cm with no noticeable change in soil except that the small rocks from Locus 02 and 03 seemed to grow less. This locus also contained the most obsidian with four pieces. Hopefully materials continue to increase with depth. Tomorrow we will continue to take this trench down until we hit bedrock. There is the possibility that we will start another 2x2 on the same terrace. However, should Mirak Operation 01 continue to yield very little I think it is unlikely. More likely that we will move to the room within a few days if this trench continues in the same way.