Nov. 12th

Monday November 12^th was our last expected day of excavation. This day, originally planned for the examination of artifacts was changed to one of excavation because of the lost week we encountered with hurricane Sandy. The weather was unseasonably warm, in comparison to the frigid cold experienced last week.

In QG1 we were continuing in context 7. We began the day by clearing out the trench of all debris, such as leaves and sticks, that had accumulated during the week. After taking opening shots we continued trowelling. As a reminder, this context was characterized by a soil that was quite rocky and had inclusions of clay that were gray and sandy in color. While in the past few days of excavation, our worked primarily in excavating the center of the trench, partially because of the awkward placement against a wall which made it difficult to access some parts, this week we made an effort in defining all parts. We cleared away some of the edged and essentially cleared the trench to all of the same level. Previously, this had not been the case, and certain corners were quite a bit higher than others.

This week’s find were similar to last week, small in number. We continued to find the ceramic “pipe” fragments which Caitlin suggested could actually be roof tiles from observations of other buildings around campus. There were continued pieces of slate, large amounts of charcoal, and limited ceramics and glass. One piece of patterned ceramic however did look to be diagnostic in nature. We did not reach another context and ended the day with total station heights and pictures.