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1M was originally a 3m x 1m trench, orientated
north-south and positioned with the hope that the eastern
end of the wall located in trench 1J earlier in the 1996
season, would be revealed. The size of the trench was
deliberately restricted due to extensive bulldozer activity
in the area, which had heavily compacted the topsoil and
made excavation extremely slow.
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Despite the heavily compacted and disrupted
nature of the surface deposit, excavation ended
quickly with bedrock appearing 10 cm below the
surface across the northernmost two thirds of the
trench. Within this small depth a fragment of a
spirally fluted column was found, seemingly related
to the larger piece found in Trench 1D. At the
southern end of the trench the bedrock dropped away
but was cut with an almost rounded edge, parallel
to the line created by two neatly-cut stones in
wall-formation. The largest of the blocks (130 x 60
cm) sat just below the surface and extended beyond
the eastern side of the strung square. The
revelation of these stones led to a 1/2 metre
extension of the trench to the east and 1 metre to
the west, following the line of the wall.
As excavation progressed, a further three courses
of the wall were revealed; the second of these
covered by a deposit filled with tumble and mortar
as well as evenly worked blocks presumably part of
the original wall structure. The mortar and plaster
fill was fairly well preserved between the blocks
and was a counterpart to that within the context of
the wall in trench 1J in the western parodos. The
final stages of excavation were made difficult by
the confinement of the workable area, yet with the
removal of the deposit fill south of the wall, the
plaster covering of the southern face of the wall
was revealed, as well as the extent to which the
tree root in the south-eastern corner of the trench
had grown into its base.
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This deposit (129) contained more pottery than
any of those above and with its removal were
revealed both the extension of the final course of
wall westwards into the baulk, and bedrock
immediately south of it.Therefore, architectural
estimation proved to be correct and the placement
of 1M uncovered a well-preserved four-course wall
structure which forms the eastern equivalent of the
analemma wall found in Trench 1J.
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