.bk J01
.fl Q912ms.j
.fd journal for Q911
;.fn included Q914ms.j,Q915ms1.j,Q915ms.j
.ed Q912
.ei mS

.rd Q911
.ri mS

-dy the going is slow in k30 and k40 getting down to the wall. We decided to work this afternoon in this area. We were successful in reaching the stones.

-wk after breakfast we got a team of workmen from J4, one pick, two shovel and one dirt.

-sg meeting this am with gB and J1 staff continuing to discuss strategy for the rest of the week, which is also the season because we must finish on Saturday. We will continue as planned yesterday. Also discussed putting points in along the top of the wall in order to have a more permanent method of seeing how far out the stones jut, and whether there is any bulge from season to season. I have asked mL and dC to also write a journal entry about this since they were part of a more complete and detailed discussion of methodology and mL will take the lead on this. 

f 203
nr we have been using f203 as the area wide feature which is the same as several features of last season. It is the hard, compacted accumulation full of sherds and pottery. Unfortunately, we used this feature number incorrectly in k14, before we really reached it. We have decided instead to create a new feature number for this accumulation when we do reach it in these new loci, k113, k114, k116.

k 30
dy continued going down in this small excavation until reaching the stones of the top of the wall about two meters down. Will draw the section of the north baulk and begin removing it tomorrow.

k 40
dy continued going down and reached the stones of the wall this afternoon.

k 32
dy decided to finish removing the dirt from the original cut we made in going down to the wall in order to bring this whole locus down to the top of the wall. Will finish tomorrow.

k 115
dy started going down in this area. It was still in the hard, compacted soil at this point, f203, but we soon came down to the brown soft soil, the same as f181 and f184 from last season. We have declared f227 in order to keep things more controlled here.

f 227
;df ac
ds brown soil with several charcoal or carbon inclusions and white inclusions, possibly phytoliths. Should be the same feature as f151, f184 and f181 from MZ18. Possibly a type b accumulation because it may be above a living accumulation.

k 113
dy declared f226 which is a layer of hard, compact material and sherds and stones which seems to form some type of surface. Whether it is regular sedimentation or part of the scattered occupation after abandonment is uncertain although the latter seems most likely. This layer runs at about the same elevation or just a little lower than the top of the wall, f72. It is the same as f224 in k116 and f225 in k114.

k 114
dy declared f225 which is a layer of hard, compact material and sherds and stones which seems to form some type of surface. Whether it is regular sedimentation or part of the scattered occupation after abandonment is uncertain although the latter seems most likely. This layer runs at about the same elevation or just a little lower than the top of the wall, f72. It is the same as f224 in k116 and f226 in k113. Also recovered i39 which is a complete cylinder seal made of frit, very similar to i33 which was found during baulk removal what seems to be a similar elevation but to the east.

k 116
dy declared f224 which is a layer of hard, compact material and sherds and stones which seems to form some type of surface. Whether it is regular sedimentation or part of the scattered occupation after abandonment is uncertain although the latter seems most likely. This layer runs at about the same elevation or just a little lower than the top of the wall, f72. It is the same as f225 in k114 and f226 in k113.

f 224
ad accumulation b
ds a layer of hard, compact material and sherds and stones which seems to form some type of surface in k116. Whether it is regular sedimentation or part of the scattered occupation after abandonment is uncertain although the latter seems most likely. This layer runs at about the same elevation or just a little lower than the top of the wall, f72. It is the same as f225 in k114 and f226 in k113.

f 225
ad accumulation b
ds a layer of hard, compact material and sherds and stones which seems to form some type of surface in k114. Whether it is regular sedimentation or part of the scattered occupation after abandonment is uncertain although the latter seems most likely. This layer runs at about the same elevation or just a little lower than the top of the wall, f72. It is the same as f224 in k116 and f226 in k113.

f 226
ad accumulation b
ds a layer of hard, compact material and sherds and stones which seems to form some type of surface in k113. Whether it is regular sedimentation or part of the scattered occupation after abandonment is uncertain although the latter seems most likely. This layer runs at about the same elevation or just a little lower than the top of the wall, f72. It is the same as f224 in k116 and f225 in k114.
tc co f229

v 175
ds this view is an overview from the west showing the three loci k116 on the west, k114 in the center and k113 to the east. There is an overall accumulation of f224, f225 and f226 respectively which is a layer of hard compacted material full of sherds and stones. This view is intended to show the extent of this accumulation.

v 175a
ds this view is an overview from the north showing the three loci k116 on the west, k114 in the center and k113 to the east. There is an overall accumulation of f224, f225 and f226 respectively which is a layer of hard compacted material full of sherds and stones. This view is intended to show the extent of this accumulation.

v 174 
ds section of north baulk of k14 without string.

v 174a
ds section of north baulk of k14 with string.

.rd Q912
.ri mS

-sg mS had a conversation with the J1 team and later with gB about changing what we will be digging because the time is getting shorter and there is still a lot of area to remove. Instead of going down two meters in the second step, we will only go down one. And we will focus on going down mostly in what we are calling the corrider, which is in the eastern section of J1 and runs along the cut made in MZ18 running north-south from the wall and glacis.

-dy the focus remains in k40, k41 and k30 in an attempt to uncover the corner of the wall. We are also putting four teams of workmen on k114 in order to go down to 8900 throughout, and more in k113. This is extremely hard packed soil full of stones and sherds and the going is extremely slow. We worked in the afternoon again. We also begin the day 15 minutes later, at 5:30, and end at 1:15.

k 41
dy finished clearing away the last of the accumulation f209 in the northern half of this locus and have uncovered some stones that appear to be a type of crosswall for the wall, f72. We have given this the number f228. We will continue removing the accumulation to the west in k40 to see where there might be a turn. gB considers this new wall moving north south to be a possible cross wall of the terrace wall, or perhaps a strengthening for the building jogs for the curve.

f 228
df w
ds this is a wall running north south and appears to be a crosswall of the terrace wall, f72. Currently gB thinks this may be a strengthening wall for the terrace wall.
tc ab f72

f 72
ds in looking at a line of this wall from the western edge of J1, it appears that wall has sections or jogs. It is straight from the eastern edge of J1 and then there is an apparent jog as the curve begins to the north. It's very slight but still apparent. We have put points in to accurately measure the course of the wall. gB believes f228 may be a strengthening crosswall for this and we will hopefully determine this with more excavation.

k 30
dy began removing the north baulk. This is only one meter across because we only opened a small area here.

k 40
dy began removing the central portion of the locus which was left standing in MZ16. Also began drawing the eastern baulk before removing.

k 113
dy removed f226 the hard sherd and stone layer and continued going down. The going is extremely slow here.

k 114
dy removed f225 the hard sherd and stone layer and continued going down. The going is extremely slow here.

k 116
dy removed f224 the hard sherd and stone layer and continued going down. The going is extremely slow here.

k 115
dy began excavation in this locus today to bring it down to 8800. This consists of the lower part of the hard compacted layers which we called f203, and now coming down in the softer brown accumulation which we are calling f227.

f 227
df ac
ds accumulation consisting of soft brown earth with some inclusions. This is the same as f181, f184, f156 and f162 from MZ18.

.rd Q914
.ri mS

-sg continuing meetings with gB, fAB, mS and J1 staff refining our goals for the season, predominantly driven by the corrider and view, and the placement of the stairs we will have coming down to the plaza level. We have had several discussions about this stair placement based on time and practicality. As of today, we have decided to put the stairs coming down from the western portion of J1. The cut back will be three meters from the top of the baulk at 9200 to the west and the first step will end at 9000. The second step will be adjacent and come down to the 8800 level. The next one will end at the 8600 level. Because of this we will cut back one meter more to the west in k114 and go down to 8800. We have also decided to extend the working time four addtional days. We have been working in the afternoons for four days. We will finish major excavations on Saturday, work one week in the house and then come back to the field for four days with only a small team of the best workers.

-dy continued working in all the same areas as yesterday, and worked in the afternoon. Also began to cut the slope of the first step. The cut for this will be 60cm back from the edge and go down 2 meters in 60cm.

-wk have gotten more workmen from J4, including two, Shilal and Shiar brought especially to work on the baulk areas near the wall in k30 and k40 since it has been moving so slowly. The workmen are also tired from working so much so the work is moving a little slowly at times.

-sf lH was ill and stayed home.

k 30
dy continued clearing the dirt from the baulk removal going down to about 50 cm below the top of the wall and delineating stones.

k 40
dy it appears we have the corner of the wall f72 turning somewhat sharply to the north. The stones are in line with those excavated in MZ16 and will probably join up. They only seem to be a single course and may be a memory wall of the original terrace. There is still a lot of dirt to remove and hopefully we will be able to clear it out and get more definition tomorrow.

k 117
dy followed the pebble floor, f232 to the south and it seems to continue. We have decided to come down on it from above and we have about 150 cm or so of accumulation before we reach this level here. We we remove as much of the accumulation immediately above it, f231 without clearing the surface so it is not damaged during the excavations above.

f 232
ds although we have not examined the sherds from this feature, the sherds from f231 directly above the surface seem to be primarily Khabur per mKB although it is not definite. We will tag all the lots from this accumulation to continue checking.

f 231
ds this accumulations seems to have primarily Khabur sherds per mKB although it is not definite. We will tag all the lots from this accumulation to continue checking.

k 113
dy continued going down as usual with no change. f229 continues hard and compact with sherds and stones.

f 229
ad accumulation b
ds layer of hard compact soil gray soil under f226. This is full of pebbles and sherds and the same as what we were calling the multi-layer, f203. =1 f203.
tc co f233

.rd Q913
.ri mS

-dy continued going down in the major areas defined. We are working in the afternoon as well today and focusing on the area at the curve of the wall, f72, and the corridor in the eastern area of J1.

-st there are so many sherds coming from the pebble, sherd layer, f229 that we will now put all the sherds in a large sanbil instead of bags. mKB will take out any diagnostic sherds and weigh the body sherds.

-lb for the pottery collected at the shafat we will use q-lot numbers starting with 999 and working down. The feature will be 0 in the log and we will note which q-lots the pottery comes from. We have been doing this for several days, particularly since we began using the shafats.

-vr the pebble, sherd, stone layers of f224, f225, f226 and f229 (f38, f171, f151, f163, f152, f178 from MZ18)are interesting because they also contain several frit beads, a couple of frit cylinder seals and a lot of kiln waste and grinding stones. There is no context for these items but may indicate a tremendous amount of material at the top of the tell to have washed down. It does appear that these layers were naturally deposited and the soil is very hard as a result of being rained on.

k 116
dy because we have changed our strategy and will now go down only in the corridor, k113, to the east, we have subsumed k116 under k114.

k 114
dy because we have changed our strategy and will now go down only in the corridor, k113, to the east, we have subsumed k116 under k114. We will bring this down to the 8900 level throughout the locus.

k 113
dy continue to go down and still in f229 the hard compacted material.

k 115
dy finished bringing this locus down to the 8800 level which is where it will remain as the next step. We are still in f227 which is the brown accumulation.

k 117
dy declared this locus today which is the lower area in the corridor south of k113 and east of k115. This is the lowest area we have excavated to date this season. The accumulation is f231 and =1 184 of MZ18. It is soft brown and full of inclusions. Immediately under this we uncovered a pebble surface, f232. This is very interesting because we did not have this surface to the south next to the wall f72 where we have excavated to a lower elevation. It may have stopped at a line we saw last year in an east-west wall, f188. This was a Mitanni screen wall which had very differented accumulations on either side but was at a higher elevation. We will follow this surface to the south and see if it continues to the unexcavated part of k113.

f 232
df pc
ds This is a surface made of small pebbles, stones, sherds and containing some bones. This is very interesting because we did not have this surface to the south next to the wall f72 where we have excavated to a lower elevation. It may have stopped at a line we saw last year in an east-west wall, f188. This was a Mitanni screen wall which had very differented accumulations on either side but was at a higher elevation. We will follow this surface to the south and see if it continues to the unexcavated part of k113.

f 231
ad accumulation b
ds brown soil with several charcoal or carbon inclusions and white inclusions, possibly phytoliths.
tc co f232

f 227
ds in k115.

f 230
ds floating stone in k22 which does not seem to have any relation to any walls or other structure.
tc si f184

k 40
dy began removing the east baulk baulk and there is a lot of dirt in an awkward area so it seems to be going very slowly.

k 30
dy continued with baulk removal and there is a lot of dirt in an awkward area so it seems to be going very slowly.