| daily notes |
2008-7-23 |
lR |
Yesterday i11 jar was found within an interface between the ash f36 and bricky material f29 along with tannur fragments and small stones within ash however no floor surface was found. Today while excavating around the area where i11 was located, more cobble stones were found appearing similar to a floor surface along with a tannur. The pavement was assigned f43, the tannur f42. In the south, large fragments of bricks were found horizontally with soft ash surrounding it, still part of f29. The softer soil was removed, exposing the brick components which appear to divide the ash between the southeast and southwest quadrants of k3, perhaps a crude retaining wall. |
[Input File: S723lr.j] |
| 2008-7-14 |
lR |
opened this locus today and began to remove the topsoil layer in the western half of the locus, f9. The matrix is softer here than in any locus and by the end of the day the soil became softer with a grayish coloring. We stopped excavating at this level, assuming we are below topsoil, and will continue to remove the rest of the topsoil in the other half of the locus. |
[Input File: S714lr.j] |
| 2008-7-20 |
lR |
The north section was drawn, photographed, and removed today. The entire baulk was removed as f9, topsoil. Once the baulk was removed, the area was scraped to find the compact brick melt f27 continuing, uniting k13 and k3. |
[Input File: S720.j] |
| 2008-7-21 |
lR |
A 2X4 meter trench was cut next to the east section running north to south to provide a sectional view of the brick melt and material below. A similar trench was cut in k13. The first pick run removed 8 cms of the brick melt showing an uneven surface with some areas retaining more of the brickmelt while some areas were showing a soft brown soil, similar to fill but not contained by anything. The compact surface was then removed, leaving the softer layer below. The feature was changed to f29 layer however after excavating another 8 cms down this layer proved to be not uniformly soft but contained fragments of broken bricks within a soft fill similar to f30. Another 5 cms was removed with ash now surfacing towards the west and north with several small stones emerging in the north. The area was left at this level, tomorrow a new feature will be assigned for the ash. |
[Input File: S721lr2.j] |
| 2008-7-22 |
lR |
continued to excavate f31 this morning, the interface between the end of brickfall and ash. In the north portion of the trench, more ash surfaced with small cobbles, tannur fragments, and animal bones. Moving south of this area, a pebble and sherd pavement emerged below f31 extending towards the south. Great care was taken to expose the pavement, spending the entire morning articulating the surface. Plastic tarp was laid down to protect it. After the area was cleaned, we proceeded to excavate beyond the trench towards the west starting with removing 10cms of the brick melt. Approximately 10cms down, a broken jar was found in place, i11. The area was scraped and determined that the brick melt was thinner in this area, reaching ash 10cms below. The jar is not lying flat on a surface but suspended in the ashy with the base at a slight oblique angle. Immediately to the east of the jar, 5cms lower is a large fragment of a tannur or andiron embedded in the ash f36. The entire north area of k3 was cleaned resulting in brick faces and lines but in poor condition making it difficult to determine if these bricks are part of a wall or brickfall. |
[Input File: S722lr.j] |
| 2008-7-24 |
lR |
finished excavating f31 today, revealing more broken bricks around the tannur area. f42, tannur, was photographed today and yM, sE and lR began to excavate the fill. The reason for excavating the tannur is to see the depth of the tannur. Typically at Mozan tannurs sit on floors with only 5 cms remaining of the base. In the Mittani levels, A18 contained several tannur ovens and cooking installations that are different from the earlier phases. The Mittani ovens found were pedastooled or propped up by bricks allowing the person using the tannur to stand instead of squatting down. If the walls of f42 go down then the tannur dates to the same phase as the Mittani structures in A18 rather than a later phase that built over the earlier ash fills. |
[Input File: S725lr.j] |
| 2008-7-15 |
lR |
Excavated the western half of the locus, removing f13 and came down to f17 compact layer. |
[Input File: S715lr.J] |
| 2008-7-30 |
lR |
The north section was drawn today and the south section, on A18's side, was photographed then proceeded to remove the section. The baulk was excavated via features, removing the topsoil, then accumulation f9, followed by ash. |
[Input File: S731lr.j] |
| 2008-8-04 |
lR |
removed the sherds and cobblestones from the pavement f43 today with another pavement found underneath. |
[Input File: S804.J] |
| 2008-8-05 |
lR |
removed f50 today, the cobblestone pavement |
[Input File: S805lr2.j] |
| 2008-8-07 |
lR |
In k3, the ash f36 was removed around the tannur and the vertical bricks of f68. This ash appears to go under f35 pavement. |
[Input File: S809lr.j] |
| 2008-8-09 |
lR |
In k3, the ash f36 was excavated today finding that our initial assumption about the ash abutting the pavement f35 was wrong. The ash appears to go under the pavement and we thus decided to remove the pavement f35. By the end of the day, bricks emerged in the southeast, likely associated with the bricks in k4, f71 wall. |
[Input File: S809lr.j] |
| 2008-8-10 |
lR |
In k3, we started to remove the topsoil from the eastern section reaching the compact layer f17 by the end of the day. We plan to eventually remove the entire east section on the next working day. |
[Input File: S810lr2.j] |
| 2008-8-10 |
lR |
We then shifted into k12, removing 10 cm of f82 and a strip running N-S of f52. This material was incredibly hard, coming out in large brick chunks but much harder and compact than regular sun baked clay. This material seems to be secondarily fired, perhaps exposed to low heat from whatever created all the ash f22, f24. Several holes are present on the western side of f52, interpreted as animal holes although it's strange to have so many on the surface and may be linked to a specific function associated with all the ash and bricky mass. The largest hole, fill f104 has one corner with brick faces suggestive of a possible door but the other side is rounded, appearing more like an animal hole than a doorway. The fill was partially excavated to see if more brick faces surfaced, these faces were found only in the southern end. |
[Input File: S810lr2.j] |
| 2008-8-17 |
lR |
In k3, we photographed the pavement f112 this morning after consolidating the animal bones with diluted wood glue. We then removed the bones from the pavement to protect them from getting crushed. fAB made a good point yesterday about the animal skull sitting on the pavement. He noticed that the skull was not crushed, a strange thing if the skull was left sitting on a pavement for a long period of time. Another point is the presence of a horn tip, a valuable piece that is often reused thus rare to find complete. We then removed the rest of the eastern baulk between k3 and k4 to connect pavement f73 with f112, which are two different levels showing that f73 covers f112. |
[Input File: S818lr.j] |
| 2008-8-17 |
lC |
After the removing of the bones from the pavement f112 to avoid possible damage, we continued to remove the northern part of the eastern baulk of k3. After removing f29 we uncovered the pavement linked to the pavement f73 in k4 and two red flat bricks. |
[Input File: S817lC.j] |
| strategy (projected or implemented) |
2008-7-12 |
lr |
We plan to open this locus tomorrow and will start by removing a berm that crosses k1,k2, and k3. The north section of A18 will also be cleaned in order to see the stratigraphic profile. |
[Input File: S712lr.j] |
| 2008-8-06 |
lR |
I hestitate to remove the east baulk of k3 for the section shows nicely the brickmelt but the advantage of removing the baulk would be to show a continuation of f35 with f73. Tomorrow we will start to remove the baulk. |
[Input File: S806lr.j] |
