The style of the wooden houses differed in the two regions, as did the grass. The children come from two shepherd families (we just met the father) with the ger in the hollow south of the site. In the morning we dodged raindrops as we reached the bottom of the Khuiten Gol Delta-3 site.
Aral Tolgoi-3 Watch Tower Ovoo System
The southern part of the mound was built with large boulders to level the burial surface. These rocks were more closely spaced around the outside of the mound than in the center. It must have been part of the construction of the mound, which involved digging a channel and filling it with gravel before a layer of bedrock was added.
But apart from the deposition of broken pottery shards (probably two pots since we found two edge shards of one size and a third one much thicker) and the possible felt deposit, nothing else was found in the gravel layer, which was the center of the can't reach the hill. In the center of the mound we began to find more potsherds associated with brown sand, which occurred in pockets below the surface of this layer. Next, in the center of the mound we found a small slab feature and a small round rock associated with charcoal and potsherds.
The work here involved a major job: digging a three-foot-wide trench through the center of the east-west axis of the hill, along the 5th south line. A single rim sherd was found on the northern wall of the trench (#82), thicker than the two others we recovered, and the first indication that more than one vessel is indicated in the mound ritual.
Khuiten Gol Delta-1 Surface Map-1
CH-1 charcoal stain on tan soil, under brown soil -58 cm BD, proved to be a good dating sample below CH-2 is a deep sample associated with the deepest pottery in feature zone I on soil brown/now with some pebbles.
Khuiten Gol Delta-1 Excavation Area 3- Map 4
Khuiten Gol Delta-1 Artifacts June 6, 2012
Khuiten Gol Delta-1 Artifacts June 7, 2012
Khuiten Gol Delta-1 Artifacts July 8, 2012
Khuiten Gol Delta-1 Artifacts
Khuiten Gol Delta-1 Artifacts Excavation Area 1/2
June 10, 2012
This sherd appeared to be in the normal position for a standing ceramic vessel, but no other fragment was found nearby in the "adjusted" position, and 76a,b curved the other way: the base of #13 was a mess of small fragments that had deteriorated when the pot was in situ.
Khuiten Gol Delta-1 Artifacts June 11, 2012
We cleared the mound and plaza to the outside of the fence and excavated the top 10 cm of brown to brown silty sand without finding artifacts. As we began to remove these, after removing all but the outer rim of the mound rock, we found the remains of wood under a boulder on the NE side of the oval. The log could be traced 1.5 m below other boulders in the northern part of the oval and roughly crossed the area of the skeleton's head.
The position of the head must have required a neck fracture to rotate the head upright and to the left 90°. The function of the timber is not understood as it does not appear to be part of the burial chamber. In the center of the mound is a small stone box made of vertical slabs.
Three large slabs with broken bases lay on top of the mound, possibly covering the box. Perhaps something was once in the stone box at the top of the mound, but we found nothing but fragments of bone far below the vertical footing slab down in the center of the mound.
Khuiten Gol Delta-3 June 21, 2012
This year, we extended the excavation 1 m beyond the outside of the wall around the south, west and north sides of the building. Scale tool 104 W nails 24 N nails Last year we excavated this structure and cleared 50 cm above the outside of the wall. The only finds of interest came from near the south wall - a small quartz flake and a microblade.
I did not follow the hearth to the south because no bones, artifacts, or flakes were present. All the rocks are heavily covered with lichen, just like the other rocks on the terrace. This structure at Peat Valley-1 (Biluut 3.3) appeared as a very clear, circular tent ring on the surface and had an ash deposit covering the east wall.
At first it appeared to be connected to the ring, but we soon found a piece of melted plastic along with small pieces of calcined bone and part of the animal's jaw. Contemporary 2cm thick ashen deposit on surface with burnt bone (some bluing), charcoal and one piece of melted plastic.
Peat Valley-2 Biluut 3.4, Test Pit 1 June 2, 2012
Soil sample #2 (with some burnt bone) hearth/floor level 18 cm b.s. Rock spall hand pick -14cm b.s. III IIaIIb IIIIV VVI VII. In the northern part of the square, she has found burnt bone and under 25 cm some unburnt bone. a phalange and split long bon), also charcoal.
Peat Valley-2 Biluut 3.4 Test Pit 2
Elevation: 2128mN
Moderately compact yellow-brown sand with flat shale gravels Slightly compact light brown clayey silt s.
Peat Valley-2, Biluut 3.4, Test Pit 3 June 2nd 2012
Peat Valley-2, Biluut 3.4 June 2nd 2012
Elevation: 2128m
Peat Valley-2A Biluut 3.4A
Light brown sand with charcoal FCR found near barber at 24 cm B.S. Soil patterns under 2nd level rocks at 20-25 cm below surface. Light brown sand with charcoal FCR found near barber at 24 cm B.S. x) - 22 cm below surface Cobble tool, in brown soil deposit. On a small terraced outcrop on SW side of Peat Valley stream opposite Springhuis keeper's cottage on NE side of stream.
Excavation of the northernmost structure, S1, revealed the oval feature (Fea.1) which contained slabs and cobbles but no bones or artefacts. A 12 cm deep charcoal and burnt bone hearth (Fea.2) was found several centimeters south of the oval rock feature and large samples were taken.
Peat Valley-3 Biluut 3.5
Two standing stones of slate, both broken off just above their bases, with broken parts lying in the casing. The largest standing stone was on the west side of the box and the smaller one to the east. A large, active marmot hole (?) exists within the southern enclosure wall and squirrel holes were encountered in the NE corner of the enclosure.
A horse tooth appeared just under the turf outside the fence at the NW corner of the excavation – probably related to this feature as the sterile soil here is close to the surface. A fragmentary area of ash was found outside the western side of the north wall, but no charcoal or other finds were made here. Unlike the rest of the enclosure, here was a group of flat slabs, some of which tended upward toward the vertical slab wall, and others flat beneath the turf.
Excavation of the stone ring hearth (feature 3) one meter to the south yielded a small quantity of calcined small mammal bone, but no charcoal. I doubt that the ring hearth was part of the enclosure ritual, as it seems unlikely that two fires would have started so close together – less than a meter apart.
Peat Valley North Biluut 3.6
Arrowhead Mound
This is a rough sketch of the Dan Cole Mound, found atop Biluu 5 on a high ridge immediately west of Broken Mountain. X” marks the point on top of a surface slab where Dan found a medieval-type iron arrowhead right in the open air. We returned to assess the site and photograph it, but only had an hour to sketch the surface rocks and survey the area with the metal detector.
I dug a trial pit in the center of the partial ring to see if charcoal or bone could be seen, but nothing appeared in the top 10 cm of the 20x20 cm area. This town sits atop a 300-400m ridge that connects to the westernmost peak of Broken Mountain. The top of the ridge is only 20-30 m wide and is covered with glacial gravel and fine windblown soil.
Arrowhead Mound Excavation Biluut 5.1
Quiver Site June 28, 2012
3 Standing Stone Quiver Site
Quiver Site
This place is situated on a prominent terrace on the west coast of the "East Bay" on the south side of the road between Sirgal and Bilu, only 50 meters from the shore. A hearth ring with a stone displaced outside the circle lies north of the mountains in the SW (See sketch map #). Lithic flakes and a nuclear fragment were found on the surface and during excavation of the burial, but a test pit south of Burial 4 (B4) was negative. We chose B4 to excavate because it was intact and seemed typical of the entire group of nine mounds present.
A single large boulder lay in the center of the mound and slabs of slate/greywacke were visible on the surface in the center and southern portion of the mound. When we cleared the surface we found that the area within the perimeter was filled with larger rocks and slabs mixed with clean, acidic gravel, probably excavated from the burial pit we found under large slate slabs in the center of the mound. Soon an oval pit was formed, followed by vertical slabs that formed the coffin in the sandy soil.
The burial was placed on the left side, with arms on the north side of the body and legs slightly bent but extended. Samples were collected for dating and analysis of the organic remains found under the body, which probably contributed to the poor preservation of the left side of the body by retaining moisture.
East Bay-4 Square Burial Cemetery
June 23rd 2012
Sand from the pit was scattered over the top of the brown subsoil (the original brown top soil must have been removed or it was not there). The burial pit was filled with sand, and large slabs were placed over the pit and the central part of the mound. After cleaning the surface and photographing (P-1), all loose stones were removed from the top of the mound.
This layer disappears when you go to the center of the mound and its slabs and burial pit. This hill system is located at the northern end of the Aral Tolgoi Ridge. From the eroding southern edge of the terrace, we found a small collection of flint flakes and two microblade cores (Figure 9).
Test pits on the bank immediately south of the rock pile produced one core and a few flakes. Charcoal and a mat of organic material (felt?) were found in the southern part of the mound along with pottery, all undecorated. A single lithic flare was found among the rocks on the south side of the ring.
Four large boulders were found in the NW corner of the box, resting on top of a vertical north vertical slab.
