First post today is a question for you. One of the team spotted a rather unusual find in the desert today. Can you see it in the image below? Answers later...
The largest feature here is a ring shaped fortification with deep trenches, shown in the image above. This has been excavated back to the base.
(Apologies - comments have not been working properly for a while. Hopefully fixed now. Please include your name if leaving a comment. Current GARPies not allowed to guess!)
In the meantime, here are some more pictures from the work site, which is the southern most of three related fortifications along the Hijaz down towards Mudawarra.
Meanwhile other team members worked on smaller, nearby features.
No prizes for identifying the image above. It's a tent ring!
Above: Planning the large feature.
Here following are a couple of aerial shots showing the location of the main feature and nearby trench system at the station, which sadly we haven't had time to fully investigate.
Some good guesses as to the find in the first picture - it's easier to see in this one above, and the images below reveal it's true nature.
It's the front of a small Meerschaum pipe bowl, just over an inch tall, which would have been the sort used by higher ranking personnel as it differs from the large, chunky ones used by the conscripted men. The pictures show it replaced in a cleaned up area of the sand, and initially it was in amongst much more desert debris. This little man looked up from the desert at us after ying there for around 100 years, and we found him.
Is it the suspicious looking white object on the left hand side, that could possibly be man made
ReplyDeleteThe white object referred to in the other comment looks out of place but unless it is a piece of pottery, I don't know what it is: it looks a bit like a face. Otherwise, there is a piece of something that looks like a single speech mark that is wedged between two rocks to the right of the object but that could just be another piece of rock. Finally, there is a small round 'thing', also to the right of the white shape, beneath the large dark rock, which looks alien to all the rest....I don't really know but I would guess it is the white object and if the shape isn't a face, it could be a tree and perhaps part of a vessel of some sort: quite obvious that I'm not an Archaeologist, isn't it?! :)
ReplyDeleteIs it Kryptonite ?
ReplyDeleteNice
ReplyDelete