As the rest of my unit can attest, the hard, packed layer of dirt and the subsequent plaster surface have given us much context, but even more questions (and frustrations, bruises, soreness, and exhaustion). The beginning of the week began with the discovery of a large region of extremely packed soil in the North corner and the length of the Northwest and Northeast walls of our unit. We speculated that this layer was the consequence of weather when water and pressure packed the soil along with ceramics and rocks. While excavating this area, we found three coins and one other coin in the adjoining locus. I also found that I have physical limits that I should not push after what we like to call a “rock party,” which is when we remove all large rocks on the surface of our unit. Along with striving to put the packed surface into context, our unit has thoroughly discussed how our unit interacts with the adjoining units to speculate on the historical uses of ACNS. We have articulated and excavated the walls of our unit significantly which has given us a better vision of which walls were built contemporaneously or separately. In particular the apsidal wall to the North of our unit lends context to our unit because it can be speculated that there was once a much large audience hall that was later split into rooms with different uses. Additionally, the entrance area to the Northwest of our unit (7D) is seemingly at a similar elevation to our plaster surface which could mean that they were contemporaneous. This is all to say that this week has brought many discoveries that have led to a great amount of questions that may never have a concrete answer.
This coming week, I speculate that our unit will be focusing on what is underneath the plaster surface that we have broke through. We are expecting there to be artifacts under the plaster surface that were used to level the floor so attention to detail will be needed. Most of our normal work will continue with clearing soil and completing passes but hopefully possible artifacts, soil changes, and further wall articulations can help us connect our unit to the context of other units.
If I was to focus on one aspect of archaeology, I would be most interested in studying the architecture of ancient buildings, why and how they built spaces the way they did, and how we can gain knowledge from the remains of the building. On Monday, we had a discussion about what context we can gain from looking at the apsidal wall and how the building was segmented later in its history. I really enjoyed reading about other excavation sites similar to ours and realizing that they have similar characteristics that can lead to similar conclusions. Especially interesting is deducing what areas were built contemporaneously or what passageways or doorways were reused or walled up. I was talking with some of my peers about the psychology of spaces and how they were built purposefully and applying it to how this building was constructed to reflect status which has led me to want to speculate more about why this house was built the way it was.
Our unit’s wildest theory (however unserious) is that this building was a brothel. We came up with this bit after finding coins and pretending it was open-mic night. The segmented rooms?- bedrooms for clientele and madams where loose coins can be found. The apsidal wall?- a waiting area for those who were willing to pay for a good time, of course. Why else would the entrance lead to a larger room and connect with other smaller rooms? Perhaps under our plaster surface we will find the human remains of two lovers in a passionate embrace or a provocative piece of decor. Multiple levels suggest that perhaps upper levels were for private affairs and lower levels were for social activities like drinking or gambling. After all, there was a wine press in a lower section of the building. Unit 8B’s discovery of marble decor lead to the conclusion that this brothel had status and money to pimp itself out. The nail we found in our unit is in fact a hair pin belonging to a sultry mistress of the night who now haunts the plaster that was once her boudoir. In the city that never sleeps, madams rule the night.