SOUTH AREA EXCAVATIONS
SHAHINA FARID
Excavations in the South Area were confined this year to work carried out in advance of the construction of the South Area shelter. The design strategy for the South Area shelter (see Introduction) had to fulfil a number of site specific requirements. These included foundations which would not hugely impact the archaeology, adequate load bearing on a site of variable compaction, extreme weather conditions with high wind uplift, heavy snow load, and consideration to the air flow during the hot summer months of excavation. The result was a continuous reinforced concrete plinth with a steel-frame truss system superstructure. The roof and sides are of a translucent polycarbon material with removable panels (Figs. 3, 26 and 27). The foundations cut through a range of building levels and activities and were excavated to different height requirements throughout (Fig.8). Structural loads are located at the corners and at two central points to the north and south. These load bearing foundations are 1.5m wide and linked by 0.5m wide connecting trenches at each end to form a continuous plinth. Drainage channels to carry rainwater off site, were excavated around the perimeter, extended to, and cut through the 1960’s spoilheap to the west.
On digging the foundations for the shelter, a range of building levels and activities were excavated. To the east, at the top of the mound, some evidence of classical activity was uncovered, which included part of a mudbrick structure but consisted mostly of homogenous build-up. The Neolithic activity along this strip was predominantly ‘midden’ deposits of circa Levels III – IV and it was from these deposits that some of the more interesting finds were retrieved (Figs. 17, 23 - 25). Structural remains ranged from circa Level V to VIII along the South, which included a complete pot set into the floor near an oven (Fig. 16). The northern foundation, which stepped down eight meters from east to west, covered a span of Levels VI to VIII. A sequence of middens and walls lay to the east (Fig. 8), whereas the centre and west mostly comprised the remnants of the 1960s Level VII buildings, one of which produced the largest obsidian hoard we have found so far, (Fig. 18). 77 pieces of obsidian ‘rough-outs’ found in a small shallow scoop cut into the floor of ‘House’ 18 in Level VII. The western foundation trench cut through the 1960s spoil heap.
Figure 16: Ceramic vessel from the South Area
Figure 17: Bone pendant from a South Area midden
Figure 18: Obsidian hoard found within floor of a Level VII building