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Overview
The philosophy behind this section of the UGR is to document the sherds coming from specific contexts; those contexts that appeared to the excavators and directors as the most significant for that excavation area. The selection of features to be analyzed to this level was carried out immediately during the excavation, based on the perception of the importance of the feature for a variety of reasons including, but not limited to, the stratigraphic, functional or chronological history of that excavation area. The intention of this strategy is to document at a further level the most important primary contexts in the unit, so that the primary evidence would be available in the UGR to the extent logistically possible.
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Methodology
When the feature was signalled to be documented at this level, the sherds were analyzed in the same way that all sherds were analyzed (see Urkesh Categorization) and then the sherds to be drawn and in many cases photographed were selected. Not all the shape and decorated sherds from the feature were given this level of documentation, but those considered important. The method of selecting the features for this further documented meant that other features in the excavation unit were not given this level of documentation. While all sherds, shape and body sherds were analyzed, they were not all documented to this level. The ***strategy of early selection of the features to be analyzed *** to this level at times resulted in the choice of features that later turned out not to be as important as initially thought. Conversely in some cases features that were not chosen initially turned out to be more important than first judged. In this latter case if the perception changed during the excavation season then the features were analyzed to this level. If the perception changed after the digging season, then not always were those features analyzed to this level.
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The data
In this section of the UGR the sherds to be analyzed to this level were from features that were considered important during the actual excavation process. Therefore the criterion for their choice was contextual rather than typological or chronological.
The total number of items in this selection is 2429
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Sorting criteria
The ceramic plates in this section are sorted by phase, then by stratum. Within the strata the units are presented separately, so that for example in Stratum 650 (JPD) the unit sherds are given in numerical order (J1, J2, J3). The organization on the plates from the units include jars, bowls, etc. depending on the sherds found in that feature.
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Organization of the material
The ware and shape codes given to the individual sherds are the same as those found in the Shapes by Horizon section of the UGR.
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The corpus as a whole
It is immediately apparent that features in some periods are better represented than in others. This refers back to the initial critera for the selection of the features to be documented to this level.
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Additional notes
Since ceramics in this section were chosen because of the importance of the context, this means that in certain cases ceramics that are earlier than the context are documented here to emphasize the overall complexity of the ceramics found in the context. This for instance is why Late Chalcolithic 3 sherd can be documented in an EDIII context.
Back to top: Introduction