.bk A6 .fl G806rk.j .fd Excavation diary from G728 on .ed G806 .ei rK .rd G728 .ri rK q 581 ds Here we begin a layer of f177 with more ash than above. The top 16-20 cm of f177 is more continuous with f176. .rd G729 i 136 ds looks like a small tablet; v80; r381 q 588 ds relays r384-387 mark the top limit of q588,589 q 589 ds see comment on relays under q 588 a 13 ds f70 and a13 share the same levels. There are bricks occupying the space between them at the lower levels as seen in section on the E baulk of k217. f 70 ds see comment on levels of f70 and a13 under a13. There are bricks to the N and S of f70, perhaps also below it. The bottom of f70 is 100 cm above the present brick top of wall f78. Approx. 80 cm above it there is another bottom of a pit. k 217 ds A black band approx. 50 cm above the top of f78. f 44 ds The "secondary wall" f44 extended approx. 150 cm above f78. .rd G730 f 177 dy We have not gone past the level at which we found a large bone flat on the ground in f177 on G725. Since then we have concentrated on bringing the S part of the locus down the same level. There is also a lot of ash at the base of the W end of the wall f78 at this level. We will most likely call this a new feature from this level down, once the whole locus is levelled. -sg In k21, once the locus is level we shall advance a section from the W by cutting in 20 cm Eward to the depth of 30-35 cm that exists between the bottom of f177 and the top of the brick platform f142 in the N-S doorway a14. -dy In the accumulation belonging to q596 there were isolated grain, appearing charred. In the SE quadrant as the removal of the bottom 20 cm of the feature progressed, a differentiation was noted between the upper reddish 10 cm and the lower brownish 10 cm. But following the section to the W, this was not found to continue. It was more or less uniformly intermixed pink and brown to the W and E of this 60cm wide area. So the accumulation continued to be treated as the same feature. k 219 dy The N and W baulks are being removed exposing the walls and doorways. In the doorway to the W, there is a buildup with bricks blocking the doorway. In k219-221 areas we are still above that level as of now. f 177 ds 50-100 cm from the S baulk of k218 (with walls and doorway) the accumulation was harder and denser, but there is not much evidence of brickfall. f 176 ds total height of accumulation, ca. 30 cm. .rd G731 f 177 nl A8f69 (in the W of locus) and A8f72 (against the wall f210) pertain to f177 in A6. However since they did not start at the top level of f177, for the sake of simplicity they have been assigned a separate feature number (f212) until all of f177 is cleared. f 212 ds equals f177 and has been assigned to the A8 area W of wall f210, now absorbed into A6. The area had dimensions as follows: N 260 cm, S 270 cm, E 235 cm, W 240 cm. There was a cut within this area that included the NW quadrant, that was 140 NS x 130 EW, adjoining k21. The feature equivalent to f177 had a depth of 13 cm within this cut and 20 cm in the rest of the area. k 22 ds Includes k21 and the part of A8 now being absorbed into A6; i.e., all of A8 area W of wall f210, and the area between the line connecting the E limit of the stone walls of doorway a4 to the W limit of k217, k218, as well as the area in the S baulk of k218 that is N of wall f200. So in effect, this area is bounded by wall f78 and doorway f217 in the N, wall f200 in the S, doorway a4 in the W and wall f210 = A8f59 in the E. There are two areas adjoining wall f210 that are fully or partially unexcavated and are excluded from this locus: bounded by f78 and f210 a 250 x 250 area fully unexcavated; bounded by f210 and f200, a 270 x 140 area is part of A8 and has only minimally been excavated. Its top is down to a level above that of f102 in A6. .ed G807 f 213 ds A small area of ash below f177, approx. top of f211. See relays 401-404 which give bottom elevation of feature. f 177 ds Bottom levels of f177 are given by relays 397-400. q 604.1 ds 1x1x1 bead that appears like turquoise with white inlay on 4 sides into engraved depression. nr It is not certain that this item came from the locus at this level. One of the boys who remove the excavated dirt brought it in saying he found it in the dirt after the dirt being removed from the area (former A8 area S of wall f210, that is now part of A6, f212) was dumped from the wheelbarrow. The boy (Abdul Rahman) was accompanied by another older one (Hassein-who has been found to be good natured and reliable, but was not himself a witness of the retrieval) who introduced the matter to me. Further questioning of the boy who found the item revealed that he did not see it in the wheelbarrow, but only saw it roll down as he dumped the dirt. He retrieved it and showed it to the other who brought him and the item to us. Unless the antiquity of the item is ruled out by evidence from the item, it could have come from the excavation from a recent day. The hole of this bead had dirt in it, as did other parts of it. However, the pickmen were digging with the handpick and carefully, and swear that they could not have missed something like that! f 211 ds is a hard accumulation f 212 ds is a very hard accumulation-removed the last 13 cm depth with the large pick; near wall f210 brick was present. f 213 ds turned out to be insignificant f 194 tc ov f200 f 195 tc ov f200 f 213 tc ov f211 f 177 tc ov f211 tc ov f213 f 213 tc ov f211 .rd G801 f 197 ds Appears to have been a pit cut into the late wall f194,195, from the top. In fact, f194-195 would have been continuous except for this. The evidence for the pit is the round shape of the outline seen on the N, E, & W. On the E, it cut into f200 an arc. Likewise, a curve can be seen from the shape of the ac on the E and W faces of f194 and f195 respectively. The pit continues on the S of f195 in a circular cut of wall f196. The width of the wall f200/196 is ca. 140 cm; 150 cm W of the pit. That would make the original AK wall relatively thick for an inside wall. f 195 ds The top of the late wall as we have it reaches the level of accumulation f149/111. f 211 ds The ash layer, f213, found in the N along the wall close to the door extends deeper below a layer of soil. Here we only dug to just above the ash in f211 while removing it. The accumulation seems more sandy than the accumulation we removed from above it. q 614b ds Contains bones of q618,624,629 and q631. .rd G803 q 633 ds collected from ca. 260 cm wide cut from W to E toward the wall f210. This was a second cut in f211 to an additional depth of 10 cm. The first cut was ca. 12 cm in this area--3 workmen q 634 ds collected from area in NE corner, 150 cm x 150 cm--2 workmen q 635 ds pertains to a 150 cm wide strip going toward f210, starting at ca. 50 cm W of the baulk--2 workmen q 636 ds Started at ca. 280 cm E of the doorway a4, 100 cm N of f200, 160 cm wide--2 workmen. f 211 dy This floor has yielded isolated grains on each day it was excavated, usually 2-3 in number, found by the workmen. These were not collected earlier. These are charred (by age?) but found often in accumulation that is not obviously ashy. Those found today were collected for identification. q 631 ds The accumulation in the feature had been cut to a depth of 20cm on the E on G801. On viewing the section today, it seemed that there were two layers. The top was removed first as q635. Midway in the locus, such differentiation was not observed. So q635 continued to be used for the accumulation removed to a depth of 18cm. f 143 ds The top of the brick wall has been dug and used for some ash related purpose. There was a trough like track with paving of fired thick clay, over a very small area. (Recollection of encountering similar surface in the general area during MZ 7?) q 634s ds includes grain from q636,633 q 635cl ds includes clay lumps from q636 q 635 dy Toward f210, the accumulation became very hard. We stopped digging with the handpick and began to remove the rest of the accumulation in this area with the larger pick. i 153 ds Carbon sample was from a piece that extended 30 cm, ca. 2cm wide; could have been a stick. q 634l ds Also includes lithics from q635 & 636 q 633v ds Contains kiln waste; also from q635 k 168 dy The section cut to probe the depth of the stone wall was refilled with excavated dirt after the study was finished. Plastic covering was laid over the floor and most of the sides of this cut. But it does not come all the way up to cover the face of the original accumulation and floor at the top. .rd G807 k 168 dy re: comment on backfill of small trench cut to probe the bottom of the wall--ignore the note of G803 since the backfill was removed again two days later (for elevation measurement etc.) and again replaced. .rd G803 q 633.3 ds Soil sample collected from the second cut in the accumulation of f211, where grain seeds were being found. q 647.1 ds Soil sample from the first cut along the SW 1 meter; many seeds were being found here. f 211 ds Is not a very fine kind of accumulation; it seems to have more uneven and grainy particles; has stones etc. .rd G804 k 22 dy f211 exists in 2 levels the top level, uncut along the S of the locus to a width of approx 50 cm S to N at the W end, and ca. 100 cm. at the the E end along the S baulk. Within the area bound the baulks and the E wall (i.e., former A8), the first cut removed the top 10 cm. In an area along the middle of the locus, W to E, all of the accumulation has been removed. The face of the wall f200 has been left with a few cm of accumulation to protect it. The wall is now assumed to extend along the whole border of the locus where the S baulk of k218 existed. q 651 ds SW; 200 x 40-50 cm; 1st cut in f211 q 649 ds SE; 240 x 90-100 q 651l ds includes lithics of q648,649 q 648cl ds Includes clay lumps from q649,651 q 650cl ds includes q655, q654 q 659b ds the bones near f210, associated with the stone arrangement on the floor (f214). q 648.3 ds sample of grain; has grain from all the f211 lots of today, G804 v 88 ds shows the presence of putative plaster on the stone face of wall f78 v 89 ds shows f214 in relation f210 .rd G805 f 215 sg We began removal of this accumulation below f211 to a depth of just 7 cm. q 662 ds cut 13-15 cm down q 663 ds cut 15-18 cm down q 664 ds cut 16 cm down q 665 ds cut 12 cm down q 663cl ds includes q664,668 q 664l ds includes q663,668 q 668 ds was cut 12 cm down -sg We formerly cleared all of f177 and f211 has been cut down once throughout the locus. A strip across the middle of the locus went also through a second cut which removed all of what we shall call f211. The accumulation below sitting on a floor at the level of f142 shall be labelled f215. We shall remove all of the f211 that remains and advance f215 first as a cut, to the exposed width of the wall f210, going from W to E toward it. A little bit of the accumulation has been left at the W end of f78, by the doorway, because it had a lot of ash and evidence of burning activity. This shall likewise be removed after we photograph it. f 215 dy The line of bricks for doorway a4 did not extend very into k218. It seemed to merge well with the accumulation to the E. However, they extended 80-90 cm E past the doorway. The accumulation by the doorway had many spots with carbonized material. 2 chunks, apparently from wood, were collected today. One had been collected on G804. f 216 ds Ash mixed with dirt. A few bones but not very large quantities. Also contained parts of fallen brick; quite red. The ash appears to have been confined to the S end of the doorway, f217. q 658.3 ds This sherd was observed on the morning of G805 as sitting with a bone and a stone (that may have been worked) on the edge of the accumulation that was excavated the previous day. It was bagged today assuming omission at the conclusion of excavation on G804. q 668 ds A pot smash--partial. This was found along the S side of wall f78, ca. 100 cm W of the E baulk.