Unit Book J1

J1-introduction

Processed on 2024-07-27

Date	Author	Record
2005-07-31	cvp	This year we are going to reopen unit J01, opened during the MZ16 season. In this unit part of the southwestern primary wall of the Terrace was exposed. There are basically 2 aims in this work. First, we need to have a better view of the face of the wall, trying, if it is possible, to find the floor level of the original structure, floor that could be not flat but sloping. It seems that the original structure must be third millennium, not only for its importance but also because it must be of the same period as the Temple on top. Second, if possible, we want to check if the Terrace is really oval or polygonal, as one of the squares showed a fraction of the wall that seems to be straight, not curved, and with a sharp change of direction than the section looking south. [Input: P731CVP.j]
2006-08-09	fab	This season we are continuing work in J01. Carmen Valdes and Mary Stancavage will be working as a team to supervise this unit, as last year. We plan to begin excavations on the 12th of August 2006, and will stop excavations around the 14th of September. J01 has two goals for this season. First, we want to evidence the wall of the temple terrace to a greater extent, particularly by providing a view of the wall as it would have been seen from the plaza level. This should prove to be an impressive sight, due to the height and construction of the wall itself, and the depth of the excavation. The second goal is to understand the curvature that the wall takes as it procedes to the West and North. Two earlier trenches show that the curvature of the wall is much sharper than what we have in J01; either the wall corners or curves much more sharply in the portion we have not excavated bewtween J01 and the two trenches. [Input: Q809FAB.j]
2007-07-24	mS	MZ20 is intended as a study season with no excavation and only work on the unit books to ready them for excavation. Neither mS nor cVP can spend the entire season here so the editing of J1 will be minimal at best. The work on the books is divided into modules or sections and will last three days each. Before mS arrived, the staff worked on Features, Templates and Views, Incidentals, Loci and Aggregates. [Input: R724MS.j]
2007-07-30	mS	The excavation in J1 this season will be limited to the area in front of the Terrace Wall, in k117, and perhaps in k118 where the stairs were installed in MZ19. We will continue to excavate with the intention of reaching the plaza level. The excavation is limited only in the sense that the goal is to reach the plaza which we were not able to do in MZ19. Another question we will focus on is the separation between the two areas, k117 to the south and the area to the north next to the wall,k103. There is a distinct difference and we hope to understand what f239 is and what is its relation to the escarpment. Another question is how do the pavements f238 and f240 relate and are they the same? How does f240 merge with f239? [Input: R724MS.j]
2008-07-12	rE	This year we plan to resume the excavation that has been going on for several years, J1. The last excavation ended at a very sensitive area at the base of the wall. This area is very complicated because there are many features close together but at different time periods. We are going to excavate f250 and above this feature was a Khabur feature excavated last season f240. We expect to find Phase 4 material underneath this feature. As we know from last season we found late Chalcolithic material f195 when we cut into the escarpment on the base of the wall. This was suprising and we think that underneath this third millenium mound is another fourth millenium mound. Gb described the various aspects of the excavation. Our group will be excavating the J1 area. The section that was most important was the Mittani at A20 where Laura is going to be excavating and even though we are lower than A20 we will be excavating the same material of Mittani. Between the German trench and the A20 there is no structures due to this perhaps being the main plaza area/meeting area keeping the area clear and bowl shaped. The Mittani layer was found five meters down on J1 while at A20 the Mittani layer was around two meters down. On the area J1 no structure was found but some pottery shards were found. [Input: S707RE.j]
2009-07-18	lC	This year we continue the excavation of J01. The J1 team is composed by lC, mM, aA with a partial cooperation of rE. This season we are going to have a small excavation due to two factors: on one hand because of the nature of the stratigraphy that is complex and difficult and consequently it requires a slow and very precise excavation. On the other hand because this year is almost a study season to prepare the books for digital publication. For this reason we are going to have just 8/10 workmen. The goal of the season is to find the link between the second terrace (first half of third millennium) and the probable Chalcolithic terrace. This is all due to the recovery of a stone wall parallel to the third millennium wall, below the first escarpment, last day of excavation of MZ21. The excavation will check the nature and the date of this wall, if it is a high normal wall or just a sort of "curtain" wall, a low barrier dividing people from the sacred space of the terrace (like f188, dating to Mitanni period). The idea is to try to partially expose the wall in his length from East to West and to look for its bottom. We will start to excavate from south to north inside k127 looking first for the earlier escarpment (2800 b.C.) sloping toward south and trying to define its edge, and then for the face of the Chalcolithic wall. Great importance is assigned to the preservation of the architectural elements to show the link between the two terraces. This, of course, will influence the excavation strategy. [Input: T718LC.j]
2009-09-01	lC	The final numbers for this season are: feature 377; aggregate 10; locus 132; item 80; qlot 1336; view 447; relay 1374. [Input: T915LC.j]