Notes Soil layers

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Soil layers

Our targets for the book (the stones for the possible apron, temple terrace wall, the plaza level) are most likely located under a few meters or even several meters of soil. The soil we have excavated thus far (e.g., f31) has been natural accumulation and includes patches of softer and harder soil. The harder patches could perhaps be melted brick material but there are not well defined pieces of brick. The soil also does not have any distinct color. Federico Buccellati mentioned that the temple terrace to the north of the unit is constructed of very distinct red soil. The terrace cannot be the source of the accumulation in our unit since this accumulation is clearly not red.

This begs the questions where did all of this soil come from. While some of it certainly can be wind-blown, I would maintain that not all of it is. I doubt the soil would have packed in patches like it has if all of it was wind-blown and subject to similar natural forces. Perhaps some of it is erosion from later structures surrounding the plaza. In J01 East of MZ16 the soil layers they excavated through were uniformly hard. Perhaps the soil there is all the result of wind erosion. J02 is perhaps closer to later structures (like the structures to the south of J02) than the more central area of the plaza.