.bk A15
.fl L905jlw.j
.fd daily journal for L905, v160-v163
.ei jlw
.ed L905
.rd L905
.ri jlw

-dy continued to work on preparing view descriptions for kiln photographs.

v 160
ph this series of progress photographs by yt focuses on the excavation of the north kiln, a30, in k13. The main body of this kiln was more or less intact at the beginning of this excavation, with only the western half of the fire chamber having been inadvertently excavated earlier in k3. v160 is an eye level view into the kiln body, the feet of the photographer being about at the level of the kiln floor. v160a is a wider view that shows the kiln in relation to the locus. v160b is from overhead and shows a horizontal section of the fire chamber to the west of the main body, which at this point had not been fully excavated. v160c shows the southern limits of the burned soil that forms the kiln body. This was exposed when we began to dig an exploratory trench through accumulation, f346, to determine if the north (a30) and south (a31) kilns were related. v160d complements v160b by showing the fire chamber in vertical section.

v 161
ph this series of progress photographs by yt focuses on the excavation of the south kiln, a31, in k13. The top north quarter was accidentally excavated without realizing that it was part of a kiln. v161 from overhead shows the results after partial excavation of the bottom north quarter. There is still a considerable amount of ash in the half bowl. v161a and v161b show one of the intact Khabur bowls in place, probabaly i219. V14d3434, which was also is labeled v161 (taken later in the day, close to sunset) should be labeled v161c and shows the fully excavated north half of the kiln, including the plaster floor, the ash layer above, and two more intact bowls, i221 and i223. V14d3434, which was labeled v161 should be labeled v161d is a closer view of the two bowls, clearly showing that they come from layer f347, vice the layer f349 surrounding the plaster floor to which they were attributed during excavation. V14d3435, which was labeled v162a is a closeup of Khabur bowl, i221 in situ.

v 162
ph this is a series of final photographs by okk that documents the pit kilns, a30 and a31, in locus k13, that were excavated by jlw and yt from L816 until L821. v162, the primary reference photo, is an overhead looking south from the north baulk. One can clearly see the bottom of both kilns, a30 on the middle right, and a31 on the upper left. v162a was renumbered v161d. v162b the second reference photo, was taken low and looking east, with the top of both kilns at eye level. The meter sticks are at about the level of the kiln floors. (only a30 clearly visible). v162c is the third refernce photograph, another overhead from the north baulk, looking south, this time with a wide angle lens that shows the adjacent locus to the south k13 and, in particular a cut for a pit that was once thought to have been a place where clay was mixed for pottery fabrication. yt has cast some doubt on that theory because the cut has straight sides, is very deep, and contains a hard accumulation of alkaline from ash and loess, rather than pure clay.  V14d3448 was mis-labeled v162d and does not belong to this view.

v 163
ph this is the series of final photographs that document the details of two pit kilns, a30 and a31, in locus k13. We expect that they will illustrate in a basic way our understanding of how this type of kiln worked. All of the photographs should be viewed within the frames of reference provided by v162. v163 is an overhead looking down into kiln a30 to the southwest. It shows portions of the kiln wall (pit cut) that have been exposed to moderate heat and contain some vitrified and overheated clay. v163a is an overhead looking down to the northwest toward the air chamber. v163b is a tight shot of the same area. There is little evidence of vitrification or burning here because the bricks, f360, have diverted the heated air to the eastern portion of the kiln to pass around and fire the vessels placed in the pit. v163c and v163d are an eye-level views, through the air chamber to the eastern wall of the pit.  This side is heavily vitrified because of condensation of impurities which evaporated from the clay vessels in the kiln and then were directed to the east wall by the airflow. v163e and v163f are tight shots that illustrate the multiple layers of vitrified material that probably result from multiple uses of the kiln. v163g shows the layer of bricks, f360, that redirect the heated air from the air chamber to the body of the kiln. These pit kilns were dug into soil accumulations that were basically light yellowish brown in color. V14d3448 and V14d3449, which should be labeled v163h and v163i respectively, attempt, with little success, to show the reddish color of this accumlation after it has been heated by the air in the kiln. V14d3450, which should be labeled v163j, is an overhead view to the west, of the south kiln, a31. The air chamber, not well defined, probably extended to the right (north) at the bottom (east) end of the photograph. V14d3451, which should be labeled j163k, is a close shot of vitrified material on the north side of the kiln chamber. Among other things some pellets of caprid dung, undoubtedly used as fuel, can be see just to the left of center. V14d3452, which should be labeled v163l is a straight overhead view of the eastern half of the kiln's plaster floor, f359, upon which the vessels to be fired were placed. There was no attempt to make it absolutely smooth as it had no decorative function.