Daily Summary:
Trench WT1: South half has hit bedrock throughout. Northern half is continuing (locus 9) but will soon bottom out. Unclear where we go from here but options include a sounding south of the original WT1 trench from 1998.
Trench NT1: We have continued to go down in both A and B areas. Area A is now a very thick ashy layer filled with numerous burned beams. The preservation is excellent and we continue to hope for good samples for radiocarbon. Area B is still slightly above Area A but it is quite possible that there was a mini-terrace wall that elevated the southern portion above the northern. We presume that such a construction is where the numerous stones found just above the ashy fill came from. But this likely means that the wall construction is in our balk.
Trench C3: We continue down in both A and C. Lots of Rocks to remove in both. In A, there seems to be below the rocks an ashy fill very similar to that in NT1, suggesting now that a wide area of the citadel and terraces were consumed by a fire as a single event. Radiocarbon dates will help us confirm this. The west balk of A was positioned directly on top of a very nice wall that appears to be LB in age; the eastern faŠ·ade is visible. In area C, we seem to have come upon a partial stone floor. In the rest of the trench we also find the same ashy fill.
Trench C5: Opening new trench but have come down immediately upon a wide rock level. We think that we can discern a couple of walls (probably later constructions, but as yet too soon to tell.