The Diaries
 
November 13th 2008
:: 2008 :: 10/27 - 10/28 - 10/29 - 10/30 - 10/31
11/01 - 11/02 & 11/03 - 11/04 - 11/05- 11/06 - 11/07 - 11/08 & 11/09 - 11/10 - 11/11 - 11/12 - 11/13 - 11/14 - 11/15 - 11/16 - 11/17 - 11/18 - 11/19 - 11/20 - 11/21 - 11/22 - 11/23 - 11/25 - 11/26 - 11/27 - 11/28
11/29 - 11/30
12/01 - 12/02
- A third building and a new body -  

Last point of the zone which still causes us problems, the top of the sand hillock which dominates the “kitchen”…
It is of this zone, dominated by the relics of a modern building, which the human remainders found last week must come from.

Indeed, after having deferred on a plan the place of the discovered bones, we noted that they determined two axes converging in a point located at this place, a little like if one or two diggers had cleared the ground and had dispersed the bones from up there.

Overview of the second building
Photo : Max GUEROUT

In the morning, whereas the overall plan is supplemented, the rest of the team gets down to the clearance of the zone.
The work is difficult, because it is encumbered of rubble and it is dominated by the trunks of three velvet makers of which the roots furrow underground.
In the middle of the remains, a copper bracelet, similar to the bracelets of manille which were used as currency of exchange on the coast of Africa, at the time of the draft. Its diameter is however more modest.

The copper bracelet
Photo : Jean-François REBEYROTTE

At the end of the morning, the edge of an interior wall finally appears, giving us the hope to be able to reach a third building or at least part of a building saved by a very near modern construction.
After the nap, work begins again with ardour and it very quickly takes shape of a zone which we identify like the interior of a new building, only a part remains accessible because the foundations of the modern building recovers the rest. The remaining part measures approximately 1, 5 X 3 meters.
The scouring of the zone is undertaken at once, while another team undertakes the scouring of the second building, discovered at the beginning of the week.
Surprise: the top of a skull appears very quickly, confirming our assumption and causing the agitation of the whole team.
Other bones, probably belonging to the same body, soon appear, confirming, there also, that the remainders were disturbed by the alteration work of the weather station.
We still find it difficult to understand the presence of human remainders also close to the places of dwelling, which seems contrary with the Malagasy practices, but also with knowing where exactly the burials were located and what happened to them.