.bk A6 .fl G803rk.j .fd Parts of excavation diary of RK and JO from G716 to G722 .ed G803 .ei rK .ri rK .rd G723 k 218 dy The layer of stones (f27)--labelled a burial during MZ7--seen at the SE corner under the sod layer actually extends NS and is mostly under the baulk and in k219. Suggests burial of an adult. f 166 dy We are removing the last layer assigned f166 label. This is West of f29, about 4-5 cm high. 2 pickmen are removing it. f 177 dy The second cut in f177 clearly brought us to a new stratum, with finds of several interesting objects including piece of a tannur. Most likely we will dig with the handpick from here on down. The ac is brownish black (?), looser; we are past the abandonment accumulation. f160 begins the abandonment layer; f177 ends it! .rd G724 -sg finish section of k218N which was mostlyy done on G723. k218 S being levelled to be cut down with the large pick. We have 4 pickmen on the lower part of k21 in f177 digging Eward with the handpick. In k219 the excavation has begun. k 219 ds i117-119 all three turned out not to be sealed. f 169 dy buff-red clods on digging with the large picks; soil sample collected. f 177 dy soil sample collected; excavation in the feature so far today 30 cm down. f 176 ds total depth of feature ca. 40 cm i 122 ds worked stone in f169. Flat surface dimensions 30 x 22. Position sideways, flat surface facing NNE with the broader end up. Angle to the horizontal ca. 45 deg. The point triangulated was the top edge. .rd G725 f 177 dy A 20 cm deep 285x75x20 section was cut at the W end of the lower cut in this feature, using the large and hand picks. Had lenses of carbonized material and ash--q555. f 176 dy We have removed all of f169 in the locus with the removal of a little pedestal left @ the SE for dirt removal. f176 is now being removed with the large pick. q 558.1 ds sample of brick inclusion in accumulation q 558.2 ds good sherd; incised, with rim; taken separately q 555 ds section at W end; still not different from f177 above; plenty of ash, gray and white inclusions; no floor visible in section. Black and red intermingled both on horizontal and vertical sections. f 177 ds brick and ash close to f78. Must be brickfall and fire related activity. .rd G803 f 177 dy a significant number of clay samples retrieved from this layer (while seeking seal impressions) were quite burnt. However, the feature as a whole does not reflect a lot of burning or presence of ash. .rd G727 f 169 ds ends approx. at the top of the brickwall of f78 f 176 ds begins @ top of wall f78. Thus, abandonment accumulation extends above the top limit of the walls. @ the top along the W limit for ca. 150 cm from S lens of ash and charcoal; extends ca. 50 cm E ward; also contains isolated bricks. f 177 dy Change feature numbers below f177 at this point. q 568.1 ds Was retrieved from the dug up dirt by workman (Abdul Karim) as the accumulation f176 was being removed using large picks. f 176 dy was being excavated W to E 20 cm down to the top of f177 f 177 ds extends 40-50 cm in height along the S 1/2 of the locus. The S platform along A8 on the E and the baulk on the S is 480 EW x 280 NS -dy Because we found a very interesting clay artifact (figurine) and a sealing while digging with the large picks, the large pick digging was stopped and six men were assigned to remove the rest of f176 to 10 cm depth at a time with the handpick. q 570 ds 150 cm from the E baulk, 280 cm N ward, 310 cm to the N. a 12 nl needs feature #; assigned f209 .rd G804 ;f ;209 218 bu a12 ;q ;367 p 209 218 ;i ;52 209 218 ja ;53 2099 218 po f 209 ds assigned to the volume containing burial a12. Initially the burial had been assigned only an aggregate number and referred to thereby. Lots and items from a12 had been given feature number f108 and subsequently noted to be the proper top level of f111, the accumulation surrounding the burial. This was on account of two reasons. The burial itself merged completely with the surrounding accumulation and no cut leading to it was discernible (see views 52,53); the aggregate number was used as a substitute for the feature number. q 367p nl This lot contained a small number of sherds from the burial a12. Since a separate feature number had not been assigned to it at the time of excavation, the sherds had been collected as belonging to a12, but given the feature number pertaining to the surrounding accumulation. i 52 nl feature number label revised in electronic record on G804 i 53 nl feature number label revised in electronic record on G804 .rd G727 f 176 dy Removal of f176 exposed the top two layers of the brick wall along the S baulk of k218 at the SE corner. f 200 ds Wall jutting into k218 from the N at SE corner. The top level visible extends 140 cm into locus. In k219, the limit of the doorway from the West is 230 cm from the E baulk. This permits a doorway about 90 cm wide here. v 54 ds From the top of the sod to the bottom of burial a13 is 190cm .rd G714 .ri jO f 131 sg We will continue to remove the N part of f131 in k168. f 113 sg Today we will start digging the floor ac f113 beginning from its S end which starts just 120 cm S of a14 in k169. ds Soft dark gray floor accumulation 8-10 cm in thickness. The top surface of f113 is a packed levelled surface, but it is not plastered or paved. tc ab f123 dy We dug f113 to be even with the S face of the wall of123 and stopped it there for today to switch to clarification of the walls in S k169. f 114 dy What we labelled as f114 below f113 in k169 appears to be the uppermost layer left at the end of excavation during MZ7 (1992) season. That is because when we removed the backfill from the ground to the S of the wall f123 (in the unpreserved doorway), we found that it was covering the surface of what we defined as f114. So f114 should have an A6 feature number (f62 ?)from the previous excavation and f113 in k169 must have been the last excavated feature (f61 ?) then. tc ab f123 k 169 sg We decided to expand 100 cm to the S of k169 and 50 cm to the E dy The extended part of the excavation (100 x 50) was dug deep down by removing the wadi accumulation up to the bottom of f115 when another floor accumulation appeared. It was assigned feature number f134. f 123 dy The bottom stone of the wall f123 in k1699 is still below f115,134. It might be sitting on f134 a few cm below the surface of f134 abutting it. .rd G715 f 114 sg We will dig f114,115 k169 towards the N to align them in a section with f113. k 169 sg S k169 will be dug deeper to reach a layer from which we could get a better idea of the floors and/or accumulation in k169 and k168. The first feature to be removed is the wadi accumulation f135, S of f134. dy Looking at the bottom and along the sides of the negative wall it is clear that the removed stones of the original wall went deep about 16-18 cm below the surface of the floor accumulation f134. In this case, f134 is the earliest floor that is associated with the wall, at least in k169. f 135 dy Upon removing the wadi accumulation f135 it became evident that the wadi accumulation filled a gap formed by the removal of a wall ("negative wall") which is in line with wall f123. f 114 c# 5/2 10 YR to 5/4 10 YR co Grayish brown to yellowish brown f 115 c# 5/6 2.5 YR to 4/4 5 YR co Red to reddish brown f 138 sg This is the equivalent of f101 in the E of k168. 150 NS, this feature will be removed in the same way we removed f101 and its equivalents, by dividing it to three layers of about 10cm thickness each. f 138 dy After digging f138 35 cm to the E we discovered line of mudbricks. So far we can view three layers of bricks extending EW within the doorway a4 and extending Eward. They appear to form more than a threshold and might be a platform. This platform has now been labelled f142. f 142 dy By digging f138 to its bottom above f113, we could see that f142 is three bricks deep. .rd G717 f 138 sg to find out what are the limits of f142 bricks to the S, we decided to dig the remaining 60 cm in front of f43, the S wall of the doorway a4. f 142 ds The bricks of f142 cover the whole area NS of the doorway a4, in between the two walls. The bricks are in two sizes: 40 x 40 and 36 x 18. tc ab f143 f 138 tc ab f142 f 144 ds f144 = f101 in the N part of k168 just S of the vault a1. .rd G718 f 145 ds f145 is the continuation of f144 inside the vault a1. sg We will start digging f145 in the doorway and inside a1. k 169 sg We are going to trace the negative wall in the S of k169 to the S and to the E. ar By removing the wadi ac in the S of k169 and by following alongside the negative wall towards the E and the S, it seems that the negative wall is extending to the S to k170 and the East. So we infer that there was no doorway opening from k169 to the S. Instead, the negative wall continued E until we reached the bottom stones of the wall. f 144 dy a brick similar in color and size to those in f142 was found in f144 next to the doorway of vault a1; this brick was collected as q475.2 f 113 sg We will start digging again f113 from the Southern end towards the doorway a14. f 134 sg The exposed part of f134 will be dug carefully. .rd G720 f 113 sg Today we will start the removal of f113 in k168 starting from the doorway a14 where we stopped yesterday when we finished the k169 part of this feature. f 145 sg About 10 cm deep in f145 a gray loose material (f148) and what seems like lines of bricks f146 appeared. This was not expected since the equivalent stratum was about 30 cm deep in all the other parts of k168. .rd G721 f 114 dy After digging to the N 50 cm of f114, we decided to stop digging it any more to concentrate on the excavation of f113. So we stopped at the doorway a14 and dug f115 up to the same line with f114. f 146 ds Line of bricks going along the N and W walls inside the vault a1. It might be a shelf inside the vault. a 1 dy Features 147,148 were cleaned up to see how deep the bricks of f146 went down. f 113 nr When f113 was excavated to the middle of k168, we noticed a reddish accumulation mixed with the distinct grayyy of f113. we stopped digging at this point and cleaned up the locus. We found that past ca. 50 cm N of doorway a14, we no longer had the top of f114 below the accumulation being removed. That was because we were digging f113 as a flat layer when, in fact, it sloped up to the N. That means that we had cut into f114 in an area of 100 cm NS x 180 cm EW. We confirmed the slope of f113 by taking several relays of the feature in the locus. All q lots of f113 on G721 might have been mixed with material from f114. .rd G722 k 169 ds Since features 101,113,114 and 134 do not have distinct floor surfaces such as plastering, they were not given different f# for their floors separate from the accumulation above. So the same feature no. is used for the accumulation and the surface holding it. f 101 ds This is a floor and its accumulation associated with the platform f142. f 113 ds This is a floor and its accumulation associated with the door socket (imprint) f121. f 134 ds This seems to be the first floor associated with the stone walls, at least in k169, by evidence of the negative walls; i.e., looking at the side sections created by the removal of the stones, one would see f136 at the bottom and about 10 cm high on the sides and f134 about 3-5 cm above f136 on the sides. f 142 tc re f113 tc ab f143 f 146 tc re f147 f 148 tc ab f146