Place: Ar/Ge.T19.508

The locus consists of the layer of loose, fine grained, yellow soil east of the LBA wall (under Loci 505 and 506). Two macro-botanical samples were taken just south of the trench wall and just east of the LBA wall (Ar/Ge T19.508.MB.01-2).
Further down in the locus, there was a stain of black soil, which might possibly be a post hole, but is somewhat uneven, with another, more diffuse stain to the NE, both of which are just west of the “berm” feature from L506, at a depth of 2282.91 m. After removing the large stone in the center of the locus, we found a small piece of groundstone (Ar/Ge.T19.508.L.01). Also under the rock were tiny pieces of charcoal and black staining, at the same level as the stains west of the “berm”. West of the rock that was removed is a small, extremely hard packed clay surface (1m x 0.5m x 3 cm), which is north of the “berm” feature. In the eastern part of L508, we found some charcoal just east of the unexcavated area next to the northern wall of the trench, at a depth of 2282.96 m, collected as Ar/Ge.T19.508.C14.01. At the bottom of the locus, the soil NE of the “berm” feature is a very dark brown, in contrast to the area SE of the “berm” which is a light yellow/brown. The soil is mottled in the SW corner, ranging from yellow to dark brown, where as in the SE it is entirely yellow and in the NE it is dark brown. We found a polishing stone (Ar/Ge.T19.508.L.02) and a “bottle stopper” (Ar/Ge.T19.508.CO.01). We also found a retouched flake of obsidian (Ar/Ge.t19.L.05). Further down in L508, we found a curvilinear black stain which connects up with the “berm” feature, even though it is not level with it, the lower part being located at 2282.81 m.
we found a small piece of groundstone (a pestle?) in the SE corner of the locus (Ar/Ge.T19.508.L.06). We also found a rock which looks like it might be an archaic stone tool (Ar/Ge.T19.508.L12). In the screened dirt from the locus we found a stone bead/pendant (Ar/Ge.T19.508.L.07). In L508, there was a large acetabulum and a complete vertebrae (atlas or axis), just west of the “berm” feature and just south of the large sherds near the top of the “berm”, but at a lower level (2282.87 m). Near the acetabulum, there is another linear black stain at the same level. We found some more charcoal in L 508 (at 2282.86 m), just east of the large dressed stone that is against/in the northern trench wall (Ar/Ge.T19.508.C14.02). An obsidian projectile point (Ar/Ge.T19.508.L.08) was found when a bucket of dirt from just SW of the “berm” feature (at approx. 2282.84 m) was screened.
As we were coming down, we found a Y-shaped black stain, similar to those found earlier though the soil is slightly less dark. It is SW of the “berm” feature and is between 2282.92 m and 2282.87 m in elevation. East of the unexcavated sediment, the soil is mottled light and dark brown, with a fair amount of burnt animal bones. No feature was discernable from changes in the soil color. The scatter is around the large dressed stone on the northern wall of the trench, and appears to continue underneath it, which may imply that the stone is not in its original position. In this concentration, a sample for radiocarbon dating was taken (Ar/Ge.T19.508.C14.03) at 2282.77 m, and there were many smaller (too small to collect) fragments too.
We found two small squat cylinders (which resemble the ceramic “bottle stoppers), one in the NW part of the locus (Ar/Ge.T19.508.L.09), and another about 30 cm SW of the unexcavated sediment (Ar/Ge.T19.508.L.11). We found another small piece of groundstone (Ar/Ge.T19.508.L.10) ~2 m east of the LBA wall and 2.5 m S of the northern wall of the trench. We found a small piece of agate/malachite in this trench.