https://urkesh.org / RECORD / A16 / CHRONICL

Unit Book A16

The Courtyard of the Tupkish Palace (Version 2, Beta release)

A16 Synthetic View / Introduction

Chronicle of Work in Unit A16

Giorgio Buccellati – November 2006, March 2025
Federico Buccellati – September 2011

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Introduction

A16 was an active excavation for two years, but the work on documentation has taken longer; the reasons have been discussed under the errors section.

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The 2001 season

The 2001 season began with the opening of 8 squares to the north of unit A13. The primary goal was to explore more of the stone courtyard, and to determine if the northern limit of that courtyard H3 was a continuation of the northern wall of AP sector C. Further goals are the exploration of the Post-Palace settlement and the development of the palace to the East. The season began on the 9th of June 2001, and ended on the 6th of September, 2001.

Three loci had already been excavated in part in unit A13: k1, k5 and k6. Four loci extended the limit of the palace excavations towards the east: k3, k4, k7 and k8.

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Follow-up work to the 2001 season

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A long study season

August 2002 Study season in Los Angeles ( see report in Backdirt). This was before the 2002 excavation season in Mozan, hence it was limited to the material of the 2001 season.
F. A. Buccellati revises journal files and supervises work on A16 data overall.
L. Ramos works on journal files.
S. Bonetti works on items.

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The 2002 season

At the end of the 2001 season the goals had been reached for the most part: the continuation of the stone courtyard to the north was seen in locus k111, a very narrow E-W locus along the north section of k1 and k2. Also, an extensive Khabur settlement with several tombs was uncovered in loci k3, k4, k7 and k8. The third goal, that of exploring the palatial settlement towards the east was not reached, because to do so would have meant we would remove the Khabur settlements without first gaining horizontal exposure, which was done in subsequent seasons in units A17, A18 and A20.

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Follow-up work to the 2002 season

The A16 analytical record (the one that is referred to in the right hand side of the page) was in a relatively good shape by the end of the 2002 season. However, several components were missing and others needed revisions. Also, very little of the synthetic record (left hand side) was done.

The main stages of the follow-up work were as follows.

Summers 2003-2005 H. Hamza analyzes ceramic lots, and various draftsmen draw diagnostic sherds.
K. Feisal produces vector renderings of sherd drawings.
Summer 2004 H.-P. Uerpmann analyzes animal bones.
M. Forte directs a team from the Istituto per le Tecnologie Applicate ai Beni Culturali of the Italian Consiglio Nazionale della Ricerca to produce a laser scanner coverage of the A16 structures.
Fall 2005 G. Buccellati and M. Kelly-Buccellati work on ceramic statistics.
Fall 2006 G. Buccellati works on synthetic record.
M. Kelly-Buccellati works on ceramic analysis and synthetic description of objects.
F. A. Buccellati works on overall editing of analytical record.
Summer 2007 Patrizia Camatta, Caitlin Chaves, Sarah Comelli, Sarah Graff and Marie-Claude Tremouille work on harmonizing input files, types of contact, sections and object descriptions.
H. Hamza analyzes ceramic lots, and various draftsmen draw diagnostic sherds.
K. Feisal continues vectorizing renderings of sherd drawings.
Summer 2008 H. Hamza analyzes ceramic lots, and various draftsmen draw diagnostic sherds.
K. Feisal continues vectorizing renderings of sherd drawings.
Summer 2010 B. Hinzer went over the items and q-items looking to correct any errors present in the record on the basis of the objects which could be located in storage.
K. Feisal continues vectorizing renderings of sherd drawings.
Winter 2010-2011 F. Buccellati, L. Crescioli and M. Maiocchi continued on working on harmonizing the original data and integrating the old data files with the programs currently in use.
Summer 2011 F. Buccellati, L. Crescioli and Y. Mahmood worked on the original data and the interpretive information present in the left hand side of the UGR.
2013-2015C. Chaves Yates revises all input files, adds ceramic and drawing data with L. Recht. Creation of new, clean, updated display version and addition of interpretive material. Major review of ceramic data by M. Kelly-Buccellati, conversion of ceramic data to new system by L. Recht and C. Chaves Yates.
2016C. Chaves Yates updates A16 to a new strata sequence - Sequence AAH
2017-2025 G. Buccellati works on points of detail, updating the content to match the UGR system
2024 M. De Pietri converts the website to the DABI format

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