| daily notes |
2008-8-19 |
lR |
This morning the north section of k101 was drawn. This section is not the true north section of k101, it is actually our cut into k14 but shows nicely the wall f127 which we plan to remove today for the purpose of exposing f40 (a2) which is presumably behind wall f127. After the section was drawn we then photographed the section, including overhead, oblique, and direct north views. The wall was removed in section, beginning in the eastern area working west, leaving a small section to see the horizontal bricks from two sides. We then proceeded to continue removing the bricks to west, then cleaned out the section and photographed it again. What was in view was bricky material sitting on a nice row of horizontal bricks then several centimeters below, a layer of reddish fine clay appearing similar in shape and size to bricks but much softer than brick. Another layer was removed, moving north and this time removing f40 vertical bricks to expose another layer of the horizontal bricks behind. In the west, more stones surfaced to the north, in line with the stones from wall f125. It is unclear if these stones continue north, if so then a2 was built over f125 wall. |
[Input File: S818lr.j] |
| 2008-8-23 |
lC |
Today we continued to remove the vertical bricks of the a2. The bricks in this part of the structure are badly preserved, damaged from numerous animal holes. Some bricks seem to be broken already in antiquity and it is a little bit more difficult to find their faces. Removing these vertical bricks, the floor f132 continues to be uncovered. Probably tomorrow we will link the stones of the pavement with the stones found just to the north east of the a2 and that we assume are part of the same pavement. |
[Input File: S823lC.j] |
| 2008-8-24 |
lC |
We started to clean the square from the dirt arrived during the night because of the sand storm. lR and lC also started to remove other vertical bricks of the a2 but after one hour of work we stopped due to the storm and we went to work in the house. |
[Input File: S824lC3.j] |
| 2008-8-25 |
lC |
We finished removing the vertical bricks of a2 towards the north, uncovering more than 2/3 of the stone pavement f132. Tomorrow after we take photographs of the arbitrary north-south section showing the structure of a2 then will finish removing completely a2. |
[Input File: S825lC.j] |
| 2008-8-26 |
lC |
Today we finished to remove the vertical bricks of a2 uncovering almost completely the stone pavement f132, that appears to be surrounded by a narrow band of hard clay that also could be a layer under the stone pavement. Tomorrow we will define better its northern edge, still not really clear and the western edge, where today we left about 20 cm of f131 to excavate, so tomorrow we can have a clear understanding of the link between the two features and to define the east face of the wall f92, not easily recognizable. |
[Input File: S826lC.j] |
| 2008-8-21 |
yM |
Yesterday we started removing a2, we began to remove only the bricks that are located in the east side, and we removed the first three rows. Today we are continuing the removal of these bricks. The first row of bricks contained whole bricks (40x36x10cm) . The second row of bricks where half bricks (16x9cm) and they contained animal bones and kiln waste inclusions. Animal holes where found in several of them. In the next course of bricks we found whole bricks, one of them had three finger impressions on the inner face and we could also see the negative impressions of the fingers on the mortar. This brick was not a whole brick (36x20x9cm) . The mortar and the brick were photographed. The following brick to be removed was the one next to it and it contained two sherds, an animal bone, phytoliths , sand , inclusions of kiln waste and very small stones, and the same was for the brick behind it, that had finger impressions and inclusions of bricky red material. After removing these rows of bricks all the way down of a2 a stone pavement (f132) was discovered. The next row of bricks was similar to the previous , it contained phytoliths and kiln waste inclusions, one of the bricks in this row was damaged , very fragile and it flecked off as soon as it was touched. The bottom brick in the west side of the a2 was sitting on top of a stone , so the bottom surface of that brick was concave due to the round convex surface of the rock. A seed (2 halves) was found in the soil of that brick. Between the eastern bricks of that row a bead was found in the mortar. The only brick that was removed in one piece is the western brick of that row, behind that brick there was a heavy presence of plant roots. The pavement (f132) that was found under the bricks is surrounded by hard compact material (f150) that it also overlays. This compact layer curves in the east side around the stones of the pavement and slops up slightly (a6). |
[Input File: S831yM.j] |
| strategy (projected or implemented) |
2008-8-05 |
lC |
About the structure a2 between k14 and k15 we decided to cut two sections, one N-S in the eastern side and one E-W in the northern side to have a better understanding of it. If there are still doubts about a2 we will start to excavate it beginning from the top, in the middle, so if it is a tomb we should be able to go inside it without destroying the structure itself. |
[Input File: S805lC.j] |
