RECORD \ GLOBAL RECORD \ 89-OG50
1: G. Buccellati, September 2009

Urkesh Global Record: Book OG50
Stone scatter in the northern Outer City

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During the spring plowing, our guard, Muhammad Omo, noticed that a large number of stones were being brought to the surface. He reported the case to the office of the DGAM in Qamishli, and Dr. Suleiman Elias immediately came to the site and stopped further work in those fields. The guard also notified us via our assistant in Damascus, Ms. Rasha Endari.      Shortly after arriving at Mozan in July 2009, we reviewed the situation, also in view of special requests posed to us by the owner of the field. A stone scatter had already been noticed during the 1985 survey, but the amount and size of the stones was much greater now.

An initial goal of the 2009 season had been to re-map the Outer City and to resume its investigation. This plan was initially abandoned because of the absence of the main surveyor, Dr. Hans Barnard. Given the situation in OG, and given the new interest of one of our staff members, Caitlin Chaves, for an Outer City project that might serve as a topic for her PhD dissertation (submitted in 2014), we decided to invest resources in a thorough study of the situation in OG50, with full surveying, dscription and surface collection throughout the area.