We began the day by cleaning for final(ish) photos in T38. These included the new tomb with its capstone still in tact. In the afternoon, I began the excavation of locus 55, the tomb. It began clear rather quickly, that infant remains were not only outside the tomb, but also inside. I cleaned as much as possible, noticing that while some elements were in situ and articulated -- such as ribs -- there were also a number of remains situated at a higher elevation that were a total mess! It seems that this positioning is the product of bioturbation or taphonomic processes rather than evidence of secondary burial activities. Tomorrow I will be joined by Maureen to help with the proper description/ removal of these findings.
Today we also commenced operation T40, a 4x4m operation on the western slope of Gegharot. This unit is due west of T39 and southwest of T38. The coordinates of this unit were determined based on our 2016 GPR findings and 2017 magnetometry. After merely one day of excavation, however, we began to suspect that whatever anomaly was there was the product of something geologically -- rather than archaeologically -- interesting. While we will continue to dig tomorrow to bedrock, I suspect that this will be a fairly quick operation. We found only a handful of pottery, which is in and of itself interesting given this area's downslope location!