.bk A15
.fl L722okk.j
.fn field journal
.ed L722
.ei okk
.rd L711
.ri okk

k 1
sg Part of the strategy in k1 this morning was to dig in the eastern baulk to find the face of wall f7 and expose more of the floor f21 and see if the floor goes up to bottom of wall f7. 

dy While excavating in this corner Faris found a large complete quern which appears to be sitting on floor f21 as well as pot smashes of pieces of four vessels. These are: a bowl, a flare-necked jar, a medium storage type jar and another type of vessel, which were found right up against the wall f7. South of the quern in this area was found a small seal impression i28 which shows a seated figure next to a standing animal. In this case we gave all of the vessels item numbers, and triangulated them so that we would have a precise distribution. Today there there was also further excavation in f68, the accumulation on floor f71. f71 appears at this point not to continue northwards. 

sg At this point we will leave the pot smashes and expose the face of wall f7, then take a picture tomorrow before removing the pots.

N99 One of the questions today was how to preserve sherds from whole vessels through the washing stage, and then what happens to them once they go to the sherd yard. In the sherd yard the sherds are processed, diagnostics saved and then body sherds counted and discarded. Apparently it is better to give them a q-item number or an item number if there is any question that there might be multiple sherds from a single vessel. The question is particularly if .

k 100
dy In this locus we took out the rest of the vessels that were part of a couple of pot smashes and decided that we would excavate some of the accumulation above floor f21 in the doorway to the eastern room to see if the floor continues from aggregate 1 into the adjoining room. We also took pictures in this aggregate in order to document the state of the wall (or not wall). In particular we were trying to document that both of the walls don't appear to be very well preserved walls; one of the walls has holes in it that have water laminations, the other has an animal hole and small dirt holes. We are going to try to find the face again, but every time we try to find the face of the E-W wall it seems to disappear. Thus we took a photo in case it disappeared. 

sg Some considerations about the four northern squares, k1,k2,k11,k12. It is interesting to consider what type of use area it might have been, especially because we have a good floor in floor f21 and some interesting assemblages: we have pot smashes that represent at least seven vessels on the floor as well as five vessels from the bin. There is also two vessels in the northern part of the room, one in the niche and one in front of the doorway. There is also the quern and the hearth.

f 66
dy In f66 in k14 we also had the workmen separate the body sherds and the diagnostic sherds, keeping only the diagnostic and throwing the body sherds back into the dirt pile. The total number of sherds is 487, and there are 107 diagnostic sherds collected in three bags.

-sg There is a possibility that we might want to take out the northern baulk of k4 and k14, we are now drawing the baulk in case we want to do this. Yesterday Barbara also put in a new vertical control point to the east of k13, so it will make it easier to do elevations in the higher squares.

.rd L714
.ri okk

k 94
sg We will continue to excavate in k94, just until the bottom of the feature, when we reach the top of the stones and find the limit of the hard layer in this locus. 

-sg We are taking relays today so we have spent most of the morning doing a relay sketch and putting in the relay tags. This relay sketch will encompass all the significant structures of A15, which include all the structures of Khabur phase 5c.

k 12
dy In k12 we excavated the doorway f92. Also we excavated in f44 to the south of wall f43 until the same level of floor f71, which is also the same level as pebble-sherd floor f53 in k13. After digging in the doorway we found a stone door sill, which is quite high, 

.rd L722
.ri okk

-sg Today we plan to continue excavation in k1,k2,k3,k4 and k92.

k 1
sg The strategy in k1 is to excavate in f107, beneath floor f21. Here we expect to find more floor layers and the boundaries of the top of pit f17. 

k 2
sg In k2 we plan to excavate further in f32 to see if there are further floor surfaces associated with the walls. 

k 3
sg In k3 and k4 we want to look closer at the accumulation features there as it appears that we have reached red earth layers which might indicate walls or red packing. From there we will determine how to dig in this area. 

k 92
sg In k92 we will continue to dig in f108, the red packing or levelling material probably associated with the palace.