I sat on the bottom step for an indeterminate amount of time, attempting to classify all the objects I saw before me on the floor. I had placed the gas lantern on a step about 10 feet off the floor, so that the room was illuminated by a light sufficient to see, but not in detail. I could see that the floor was littered with objects, but not the identity of each. I could see that the stones that made up the walls were covered with figures or inscribed, but could not tell the subject of the pictures or the type of writing.
I began using my flashlight to illuminate various items individually, in order to see each more clearly. The floor litter was comprised of items like stone tools, bones of various species, at at one place the charcoal and ashes of a fire. I could see among the stone tools the earliest "pebble" tools of Homo habilis, sometimes referred to as a "hand ax," entailing the removal of enough material on one end of a smooth stone to form a chopping edge- a design that remained unchanged through a million years.
There were other tools, in a bewildering variety, both flake and core tools of the Oldowan and Achæulian styles, as used by Homo erectus, as well as the highly styled and ground blades and points of the Neolithic. The dead fire, from what I could see at the distance I observed from, was littered round about with blackened bones, of what species not immediately apparent.
Behind the stairs was a hole next to the wall, approximately 1 x 2 meters, too deep for me to see to the bottom. I was determined to do the maximum amount of observation without setting foot on the floor, to avoid disturbing or destroying any artifacts or other objects....at least until I had formulated a plan for mapping and recording the original condition of every significant object.
The lower chamber was clearly shaping up to be a project in its own right. By this time I was hungry, so I ate some food I had brought in a small pack and gave thought to attempting some sort of overview of the rock walls that surrounded me as I made my way back up The Tower.
I began using my flashlight to illuminate various items individually, in order to see each more clearly. The floor litter was comprised of items like stone tools, bones of various species, at at one place the charcoal and ashes of a fire. I could see among the stone tools the earliest "pebble" tools of Homo habilis, sometimes referred to as a "hand ax," entailing the removal of enough material on one end of a smooth stone to form a chopping edge- a design that remained unchanged through a million years.
There were other tools, in a bewildering variety, both flake and core tools of the Oldowan and Achæulian styles, as used by Homo erectus, as well as the highly styled and ground blades and points of the Neolithic. The dead fire, from what I could see at the distance I observed from, was littered round about with blackened bones, of what species not immediately apparent.
Behind the stairs was a hole next to the wall, approximately 1 x 2 meters, too deep for me to see to the bottom. I was determined to do the maximum amount of observation without setting foot on the floor, to avoid disturbing or destroying any artifacts or other objects....at least until I had formulated a plan for mapping and recording the original condition of every significant object.
The lower chamber was clearly shaping up to be a project in its own right. By this time I was hungry, so I ate some food I had brought in a small pack and gave thought to attempting some sort of overview of the rock walls that surrounded me as I made my way back up The Tower.
posted by rico567 at 8:08 AM
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