Today we focused on finishing remaining tracts of survey area in the foothills east of Mirak Village, between the high slope areas far to the west and the terrace agricultural fields closer to the village. By walking this "elbow," we resolved the final, higher visibility portions of territory and are now ready to move on to other survey landscapes.
The main cultural material recorded in two triangular tract in this area consisted of rock pile and rock wall/line sets, positioned 250-350m apart from one another along the contour line. While these facilities may represent corral structures, they could also be simple Soviet-era land clearing piles. All were recorded as corrals, and several that we recorded as cemeteries in 2014 were changed to corrals.
The other site of note examined in this area was the settlement recorded southeast of Mirak in 2014 (Ar/Mi.ICL14.11). We walked the settlement again, collecting no surface materials, but registering the size as approximately 150 x 150m. In the eastern half of the site we noted a group of likely burials, a cemetery. They somewhat resemble the Yezidi cist and mound burials seen in cemeteries at Ria Taza and Mirak.
Tomorrow we will turn our attention for a single day to potential Bronze Age sites in the vicinity of Jrarat Village, far west of Lernapar in the northeastern Shirak Plain.