.bk J01
.fl Q824mS.j
.fd journal Q824
;.fn included Q827ms1.j,Q828ms1.j,Q829ms.j,Q830ms.j,Q901ms.j
.ed Q826
.ei mS

.rd Q824
.ri mS

-sf mS arrived on Q822 and this is her second day in the field. She will begin writing the daily journals today. cVP will be leaving in two days.

-dy Excavations continue as usual in all areas being excavated to date.

k 31 
dy cVP spent a large part of the day working the stones and excavating the trench f213. This was to follow the stones that appeared to be a continuation of the wall f72 and may be the turn or bend to the north. It appears that this indeed is the case. We will cease excavation here for the moment and will draw the sections tomorrow. 

.rd Q827
.ri mS

-sf cVP left Mozan today. We have a new staff member, Hiba Qassar, hQ, who is a Syrian student at the University of Aleppo. She will work in J1 for the rest of the season.

-wk Got another team of workmen, 1 pick, two shovel, and 1 wheelbarrow.

-dy Continued dirt removal in most areas. Had a meeting with gB, fAB, jO, hQ, mL and mS discussing the immediate strategy. mS suggested removing baulks and going down to the 9000 mark all across the outside step in the southern portion of J1. This should speed up the dirt removal. There was some discussion on how to proceed with the dirt removal over the wall, f72. We will possibly install a shafat to aid in dirt removal. Dirt removal seems the largest concern at this point. There is a large amount of dirt to remove in a relatively short period of time. We also took elevations throughout the area that has been excavated to almost the first step. We are within 15cm throughout. Once the rest of the area is at the same elevation, we will move with the next step.

k 41
dy continued removing f207 the accumulation. There are more random stones, f216 and today we uncovered a very large one. This may be part of the line of random stones stretching from the east in other areas so we will leave it in place and cease excavation here for the moment.

k 31
dy began removing the east baulk which separates this locus from the section of wall f72, a3, that went into the baulk. We will remove the baulk until the top of the wall.

k 3
dy continued removing the north baulk. Finished removing the east baulk down to the excavated level. We will now remove the rest of the dirt down to 9000.

k 14
dy continued removing dirt. Uncovered a small burnt lens, f217. This is not a real installation or tannur, but there is some Islamic type pottery in the vicinity and may just indicate the random nature of habitation in later eras. Otherwise, the accumulation, f147, is unremarkable. 

.rd Q828
.ri mS

-dy Continued the removal of dirt in k3, k4, k112, and the east baulk in k31. We are just about at the 9000 point around the perimeter of the amphitheatre and laid out lines in preparation for going down to the next level. Discussed strategy with gB, jO, and J1 team on how to approach some of the precipitous baulks from last season. jW in J3 will excavate to the east of k24 so we can remove the dirt that way. The shafat was installed this afternoon and seems to be working well.

k 31
dy Continued removing the east baulk adjoining the wall. This is slow work because there is a big drop to the east. It should be completed tomorrow.

k 112
dy We took elevations and are about 9015 along the baulk perimeter. We will bring it as close as possible to 9000 and then begin the next step. f203, the interface has been found in the western section of this locus but is less regular than in k13 to the east. It seems more and more to just be wash debris.

f 203
ds The so-called interface runs throughout k112, k13, k2 and k3. It is grainy and contains large quantities of sherds and stones. In some areas it seems to be be flat and almost an installation, but overall appears to be natural sedimentation.

k 4
dy Finished getting down to 9000 along the perimeter. We drew and photographed the north section and will begin removing the north baulk tomorrow.

k 14
dy Photographed f217 which is a small burnt area. Spoke to jO and he said Islamic pottery had never been found on the site. Continue going down.

f 217
ad lens d
ds small area of burnt material which may be man made, although not a tannur. Example of random later habitation patterns. Removed without relay.
tc si f179

.rd Q829
.ri mS

-wk three pickmen left today, Mizer left to work in Hasake, and two went home sick. This had an impact on our dirt removal.

-sg Meeting with J1 staff, gB, fAB and jO on how to proceed for the next two weeks of the season. Instead of taking the entire area down to the level of the plaza in in the 'amphitheatre' style, we will instead bring everything down to the 9000 level and just step down in the western portion of J1. We will also cut back about a meter in k22 and k23 along the line of the step of last season at the 9000 level. This will open a large viewing area and also bring us to the plaza level. We will also excavate along the wall in k31 and open up a new area on an oblique line to the northwest, along the curve of the wall. This will allow a greater view of the curve, again with minimal dirt removal. bWP will begin laying out points in the morning. The oblique will run the the SW corner of the trench.

-dy Continued removing dirt. Began going down in the second step in the k22. After the strategy meeting this am, we will only step down in this area. mS spent some time correlating the features of MZ18 and this season.

k 22
dy Began to go down in the first step. After the strategy meeting this am, we will only step down in this area. Finished the interface, f203 and originally assigned f172 to the next feature, the brown multilayers, but it is really f181.

k 12
dy Examined further f203 and whether it is a surface or just accumulation from runoff. It is indeed just natural accumulations rather than a surface. We ceased excavations here for the moment. We will cut back to the south about a meter from last season's step to allow for a better view of the wall. 

k 14
dy Began going down again in this locus after finishing the removal of the north baulk of k4.

k 4
dy Finished removing the north baulk.

.rd Q830
.ri mS

-sg meeting in am with gB, jO, and mS refining the strategy to open squares to the west to improve the view of the wall. We will add k30 and k40, but open only small portions along the perimeter of the wall. We will also remove the NW quadrant of k31 which runs along the perimeter. This smaller opening will take the place of the larger oblique discussed yesterday. We will not open the entire squares, but just obliquely along the wall.

-lb although the excavations are moving lots of dirt, we can proceed fairly quickly because we are excavating the same features as last season. We are able to follow them in the sections. The sedimentation is very uniform throughout the area with variations mainly against the wall. One point to notice is that we had created new loci in MZ18 combining several older loci because of the odd nature of the excavation. This season, the old loci numbers were utilized again and we are using the old feature numbers when possible.

-wk two pickmen came back but two shovelmen left at breakfast; we got a replacement for one.

-dy continuing the dirt removal in k14, k22 and k31. Added a second shafat to help with dirt removal but it has no electricity yet. 

k 22
dy continued excavating step, and seem to be coming down towards the end of f181 and are starting to uncover large stones possibly in line with the stones to the east from last season. Finding very distinctive Nuzi pottery in this layer.

k 13
dy cutting back and still in f203, the hard soil with pebbles, sherds, roots, and some ash.

k 14
dy finished removing north baulk of k4 and are continuing to go down. Still in f179, the hard, compacted accumulation with sherds and rocks.

k 21
dy began excavating the north baulk adjacent to k31. We are cutting this back as part of the strategy to open a view to the wall and its curvature. Uncovered f218 which is a small installation of stones and sherds, part of the random habitation.

.rd Q831
.ri mS

-dy bWP laid out k30 and k40. Excavations are proceeding as expected with features continuing as expected in each area. The step from k110 or k24 from MZ18 is being excavated by J4 since it would be unsafe to excavate it as it is today. They are coming from the east.

-sg Meeting with gB, fAB, jO and mS confirmed the strategy of yesterday to just open oblique areas along the terrace to maximize the view for next week's visit of the Minister of Culture and other directors of excavations and staff in the Hassake region.

-vr The excavations and features uncovered are consistently the same as last season and very predictable.

-eq The second shafat began to be used so we now have two. We will install a third on Saturday along the terrace to aid in dirt removal in this area.

k 21
dy Photographed and removed f218, a small installation of stones and sherds. Slow going in this area and not much dirt was removed. May cease here for the moment and move directly north to k31 along the terrace wall.

k 22
dy Continue going down and are about 40cm above the next step of 8800. We are in f181 here and are watching for the transition to f184 which has a top elevation of about 8815.

k 13
dy Have almost reached the end of this excavation and will cut back to the west a little to even up with last year's excavation lines.

k 14
dy Continue going down in accumulation f179. About 65cm above the 9000 step.

k 24
dy Most of this locus was excavated in MZ18 as k24 and k110. The eastern half of the locus is a step and somewhat steep and difficult to excavate. Therefore, unit J3 is excavating this unit from the east starting with the baulk. rE and her team drew a western section since it is impossible to draw one on the east. They will continue the excavation down to 9900.