J1 use areas

Typology of the built environment in unit J1

Use areas

September 2009 - Lorenzo Crescioli

Synopsis

Sacral boundary	The combination of the ED III revetment wall (^wall1) and the escarpments, ^esc1 before and ^esc2 later. They form the big southern boundary of the temple terrace fronting the southern plaza, and dividing it from the sacred space of the terrace itself.	v218
Plaza	The open space in front of the terrace excavated in deep area of J1, constituted of series of pavements and accumulations, with different use moments in an almost continuous use lasted for at least I millennium.	v218

Discussion

Sacral boundary

The meaning of this boundary should be strong and it lasted for a very long period (almost one millennium). It was a boundary not in the sense that people could not go into the terrace, but its function was to impress the people coming from far away and reaching the site, mostly from south. The people went on the terrace through the monumental staircase found in J2 so they were allowed to walk on that surface (probably on defined areas) but probably not to enter inside the temple. The high Revetment wall had the function to impress and to divide the Terrace itself from the Plaza.

The Plaza

The Plaza had an important and very long use history. Probably since LC period and without doubt during Ninevite 5 period, the area was a Plaza, or at least an open space in front of the the stone structure ^str1. With the construction of the EDIII Temple Terrace a very large Plaza was created. Its function was to make the terrace more impressive and to allow the circulation of people in the city center, mostly in front of the entrance for the main Temple of the city of Urkesh. The area always retained its function with period or larger or less people circulation as shown by pebbles pavements and hard compacted surfaces as ^pav1, ^pav2 and ^pav3. No (or few) EDIII, Akkadian or Khabur accumulations were found on the Plaza so it means that it was kept clean for a very long period. From Mitanni period some accumulations (^acc1, ^acc2, ^acc3) started to fill the plaza (see depositional history) alternating with clear walking surfaces.
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