Elizabeth Pratt Sub-operation 150ZA was opened on the northwest side of structure ZA
at coordinates 21, east -1 south. We set up the excavation units so they
were aligned with the north-south line. This caused the unit to be at
an angle to the mound as opposed to perpendicular. Our objectives for
this unit was to find pottery to help date the site, find the wall to
the structure, find the court yard level, and to eventually work our way
towards the center of the court yard to help expose it. We opened our
unit on the northwest side of the mound because it was closer to structure
150ZD. As we started digging the first unit we found some obsidian, a mano,
ceramics, bone, and charcoal (not collected) in the first twenty centimeters.
We only screened the first two lots that we started with before we realized
that screening would take up too much time. We sifted through the soil
as we dug out the units being able to find very small pieces of obsidian
and pottery. We started to move to the west finding consistent amounts of pottery.
As we dug to depths of 30-40cm we found larger pieces of pottery (hand
sized). Some of this pottery had red and black paint on it. In unit 20
east, -1 south and surrounding units we found some bone, charcoal, and
pottery. We thought that we may be coming across a burial, so we continued
to dig down to about 60cm below ground surface. We did not find anything
else that would signify a burial. Now that we know what the court yard
level is, it is more evident to say that it was probably not a burial
since we found everything at about 30cm below ground surface. When moving south, closer to the structure, we found significant amounts
of tumble. In the furthest unit south (19 east,-4 south) we found what
we thought was a wall with tumble on top. We dug down to 70cm below ground
surface along the stones to show a profile of the “wall” until
we were below the stone layer. At this point the soil color changed to
a lighter brown as compared to the dark brown soil found throughout all
the other units. The soil at this point was packed down tightly and had
many small bits of pottery mixed in with the soil giving it a multi-grain
texture and look. This was probably the court yard level. We slowly started
to remove the tumble to look for any signs of flat stones that may be
part of a wall. We eventually concluded that the stones were not a wall.
The stones were tumble because they were at a slant and the wall would
not be at an angle to the structure (the direction of out unit to the
structure). We did find hand sized pottery unit bout 50cm below ground
surface before we found very small amounts. As the season was coming to an end we stopped looking for the wall so
we could complete the goal of opening up the court yard. As we moved north
and west our excavation unit and unit ZD connected together opening one
large area. As we moved towards the north we suspected that we would not
find any type of structure. However, we did come across some stone tumble
all at the same level. When units ZA and ZD were opened together there
was tumble in all the units. We concluded that this tumble was part of
an exterior extension. Throughout these lots we found some bags of pottery
and obsidian. For next season it is advised to start an excavation unit that is perpendicular to the center of the structure to search for the wall. Start the unit at the point where the mound slopes down to the flat ground and dig down to about 50cm below ground surface to expose the court yard floor. This would probably be the level at which the wall will begin. Then move towards the mound meter by meter removing the slanted rocks that are tumble and leaving any rocks that are flat. Digging down to court yard level in each unit will probably be the best thing to do so you do not go past the wall. |