20 GIUGNO 2019  

Area 6000

Area 6000/B - Today we continued our excavations in area 6000/N. We identified an obvious line of large rocks in the northwest grave as a portion of a lithic tomb. Unfortunately, the remains are no longer present due to past disturbances. Members of the southwest grave began to remove isolated bone fragments. Upon further inspection, the removal has been postponed until more bones have been exposed. The group will continue to search for articulations before continuing removal. Great progress was made on the excavation of the northeast grave. Members made advances clearing rocks around the skull and were able to begin excavation of the upper limbs. Additionally, they found the presence of scattered bones, including a tooth from a separate individual. Members of the southeast grave continued to expose leg and foot bones. 

Area 6000/B - Today, from 8:30 to 1:00 and 2:00 to 5:30 we continued to excavate the three graves that had been uncovered during the cleaning. A mostly complete skeleton was found in one of the graves, with stones that had collapsed on it. No skull has yet been exposed. In another grave, metal fragments were found in the fill, as well as a fragment of a scapula. No skeleton has yet been found, but rocks indicate that more excavation is required. Tomorrow we plan on continuing the excavation and taking in situ photographs. 

Area 7000

Today area 7000 focused in the northern section of the area. The group was split into two sets of three, with the first 3 focusing on the possible burial or floor on the northwest side of the area, and the other group focused on the small set of holes next to the lithic tomb in the middle north section. The first group focused on cleaning and digging up more of the space of the possible burial or floor, with Alan then spraying it wet with water – making it easier to continue digging further down for finds. When the space was dry, the first group began to dig into the burial/floor. They used hand axes, trowels, brushes and spoons. By the end of the day, the group managed to dig about 20 cm deep into the possible burial. Roof tiles, segments of the floor, one nail, and marble were some of the notable finds. For the other group in charge of the small sets of holes next to the tomb, they began digging as well with the inclusion of Alan spraying their section with water also. They used trowels, spoons, and brushes. This group was digging to expose what was under discolored soil. In one hole, the smaller of the two, there was a rock at the base of the hole, about 6 inches down. This could have been used as hole for some sort of structure. In the other hole, the larger one that is about 6 inches north of the smaller one, there was a small piece of pottery found. In the northeast section, prior to being split into groups, a nail was found near an area of brick and stone -east of the lithic tomb.