This week marks a change in how we excavate Trench 4. Although we continue to remove soil from the top of Locus 2, we have decided to increase each pass to 20 centimeters. Using handpicks, shovels, and buckets to remove soil, 20 centimeters allows us to efficiently clear the trench while we also maintain care for what may be found in the soil. And this method has paid off, as we have found a large chunk of slag near the eastern wall. This slag strongly resembles the slag found in Trench 3, only about one meter northeast of Trench 4 and in the street between the northern and southern buildings. The slag in Trench 3 could have arrived there during use or post-use of the site; that is, the slag was carried out of Trench 4 and into the street by people who had no use for the impurities left over from smelting as industry happened at the acropolis or it was carried to Trench 3 by rain and wind action down the natural slope between Trenches 3 and 4. Either during use or post-use of the site, the slag originated in Trench 4 and provides evidence for industry, either cottage or otherwise, at the site. We also found three crosses, about 10 centimeters across each, in a large stone that makes up a section of the eastern door sill. These crosses are most likely graffiti from either construction of the building, on which they would probably have been plastered over, or after the site was heavily abandoned and the plaster no longer protected the walls. While other evidence, including artifacts and literature, show that Antiochia ad Cragum was quickly and heavily converted to Christianity, I don’t believe there is enough evidence to say that any of the buildings that we have uncovered on the acropolis were churches, either significant or insignificant, or for what time periods, or for how long. There just isn’t enough evidence for me to say whether any of the acropolis buildings were churches, despite a very clearly Christian community.
