| Date | Author | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004-06-26 | mh | The first task is to clean a part of the long German trench which exposes the staircase. We will not clean all of it but start about 2 m north of the door jams and continue about 5 m south of it. We will begin on Sunday June 27 by collapsing the western wall of the trench just north and south of the door jams. In order to keep track of the material coming from the collapse, we will start removing the dirt from the south and continue north in about 20 cm layers. After the dirt from our collapse has been removed we will continue with the earlier, weather induced collapse. This collapse is very hard and compacted thus we will precede with big picks. The dirt will be hoisted up with the help of the machine and shifted, collected and catalogued. Everything will be recorded as Q-lots and -items. Once we reach the original bottom of the excavation trench we will level and clean it hoping to follow the original bottom since the Germans interpreted that to be a plaza floor. After the trench has been cleaned be can start removing the topsoil from the squares. The above should be accomplished before the arrival of Alexia Pavan, the principal excavator. [Input: O626MH.j] | |
| 2004-06-26 | mh | Since our units intersect with the German units, we will first proceed to their level and then continue down in the whole unit. The initial excavation should be fast since the soil above the terrace should be rather clean and should not contain any features. The oval wall should be approximately 2 m down at an elevation of ca. 93 m. Once we reach the wall, we will continue excavation outside the terrace. At that point the excavation will be carried out slower and with more care. We will pay special attention to possible floor features abutting the wall. The Germans found a floor in their long trench at the elevation of 87 m. We do not know whether this is the original floor level, since their excavation did not expose the connection between the door jam and the staircase. We will continue excavating in the German trench until we reach this level, but this will be done once the team is in full strength. [Input: O626MH.j] | |
| 2004-07-05 | mh | The current bottoms of units k4, k5, and k14, which have the stones, are within 12cm of each other. We have reached roughly the same level also on the western half of k13 where we stopped excavations today. Tomorrow we will try to draw as many of the necessary sections as possible and bring the eastern side of k13 and the northern half of k3 into the same level with the other units. After that we will be ready to remove baulks between them and continue down. [Input: O705MH4.j] | |
| 2005-08-01 | mh | We had a strategy meeting yesterday with fAB and gB. During the meeting we decided to place our "column" on the northwest corner of k13. Pottery coming out of this 2x2 area, which we call column and whose identification is k101, will be analyzed by mKB so that we will know where we are in time. Bone and visible botanical material will also be collected. Collection methodology will not differ from that practiced at other loci, but the bags will be taged for mKB with a blue tag. We agreed that our main priorities were: 1) continuing excavating k13 until we reach the projected plaza level at the same elevation with the elevation of the place stone coutyard (87m?); 2) Bringing k4 and k3 into this same level and seeing whether and how the first apron f131 continues and how it is connected with the staircase f130 and potential other sturctures; 3) cleaning k100 of the material that has fallen in it during the year; and 4) sloping the western section next to k13, k14, and k15 especially next to k13 where the section is and will be the highest. [Input: P802MH.j] | |
| 2005-08-08 | mH | gB, fAB and us (mH, sC, aL, and vVE) discussed our strategy in case the oval wall f128 turns out to actually be from the Mitanni period. In case it does, we will not continue to the projected plaza level in k13 but stop where we think the wall ends. We might step back in k14 in order to give a better view of f128 if time permits. We will expose all of the apron f131 in k4 and step back in k5 in order to give a better view of it. In case the not-so-good quality wall f128 turns out to rest on or be a part of a earlier wall, we will continue to the elevation of the stone courtyard/plaza level (which ever comes first) as originally planned. In k4 we will still expose the apron f131 and step back in k5. [Input: P808MH.j] | |
| 2005-08-10 | mH | We decided to have the ledges in each unit at fixed elevations. These will be 90m, 88m, and 86m. We also decided that 1m in horizontal distance will be used for the ledge and the slope. 50 cm will be the width of the ledge and 50 cm will be used for sloping a 2 m vertical distance. The target elevation is 85m and thus the last 1 m will be a vertical section. We also decided that the area in front of the oval wall (f128) at the 85m level will be approximately the same in both J1 and J2. In J2 it will be 3.6m. This will take us to the southern edge of the N baulk of k14 formed by markers m4037 and m4038. 50 cm ledge to the south of this line will be at the elevation of 86m. The next 50cm will be used for a 2m slope. Thus 1m south of the line formed by m4037 and m4038 we will be at the elevation of 88m. This ledge will continue until the line formed by markers m3964 and m3967. Thus our 88m ledge will be 3m in width as opposed to 50 cm. This change in the overall strategy is necessitated by the elevations we have already reached. 50 cm south of the line formed by markers m3964 and m3967 will be used for the 2m slope taking us to the 90m ledge in k15. The whole of k15 will be left at this level. With the current elevations we will have to excavate approximately 1.26m down in k15, 1.76m in k14, and 4.26 in k13 and in the northern baulk of k14. The situation in k3, k4, and k5 will be slightly different as there the lowest elevation we will reach will depend on the extent of the steps of the apron f131. The current plan in k5 is to stop at 90m, but we still need to decide how we will approach the stone feature f144 since in order to expose it and examine the depositional history, we would have to deeper than 90 at least in the northern baulk of k5. [Input: P810MH.j] | |
| 2005-08-11 | mH | Over breakfast gB asked me to calculate how much further south would the steps of f130 extend if they continued until the 85 m elevation of the stone paved courtyard of the palace. Assuming that the steps are all 50 cm wide, we would have to go 9 m south of where the steps are now exposed in k4. This would take of slightly south of the current southern edge of J2 (southern edge of k5 and k15). Assuming that the steps are only 40cm wide, we would have to go 7.2m further south. [Input: P813MH.j] | |
| 2005-08-20 | mH | We had a whole J-wide (J1, J2, and J3) strategy meeting at 7 in the morning. For J2 the most important discussion focused on what to do with k100. We have obviously reached a floor level coming up to the steps, but this floor level does not date to the third millennium. It is also clear that approximately 5-10 cm below that floor level we have additional stones in front of the ones currently exposed. These may belong to a earlier (step?) structure. The question was whether to wait until k4 was at this level when the apron f131 stones may help us to determine how to proceed, or to make a sounding in front of the steps and look for the structure below. It was decided that we will make a 2m x 1m sounding in front of the steps (2m south and 1 m west next to the eastern wall of k100) since we might not have time to wait for k4 to reach this level. [Input: P820MH.j] | |
| 2005-09-04 | sC | About the swifing of the doil from k14 and k15. In a first moment on the 901 we were swifiting separately the soli from k14 and k15, but, as we realize that was too much time consuming trying to keep them separately, we decided to switf togheter the soil removed from both k14 and k15. Today we recovered two qlots from the swifting of k14 and k15: q734 and q740. [Input: P903SC.j] | |
| 2009-07-20 | cJC | Today fAB and cJC discussed the placement of the loci for the season. In order to achieve the goals of understanding the chronology of the construction of the apron and the associated walls it is necessary to place one section north-south running up to the the apron and one section north-south hitting the wall (f127) to the west of the apron. These loci will likely not conform to the site-wide grid due to the constraints imposed by our goals as well as the difficulty in reestablishing the squares in this area. We will create new loci numbers for these areas. [Input: T720CJC.j] | |
| 2009-07-22 | cJC | Today fAB, pC, cJC and sH met in the field to discuss the strategy for the season. We will follow the strategy outlined in the introduction. We discussed where to place the loci. Ideally we will be able to follow the site-wide grid but if the sections do not fall in the places we need to accomplish our goals we will create new squares. Adeeb, the surveyor, is unsure if it is possible to reestablish the squares in our unit as only one corner marker is remaining in J2. [Input: T722CJC.j] | |
| 2009-07-23 | cJC | We had a meeting with gB, fAB and pC. The strategy will be to start excavation in front of the revetment wall (f128) in k13, down to the escarpment and then following the escarpment around in front of the apron. gB would prefer not to excavate in front of the apron as not to damage it. [Input: T725CJC.j] | |
| 2009-07-25 | cJC | After meeting with fAB, gB and pC several times we are still deciding a strategy. gB wants to follow the floors from the cut of k100 across in front of the apron. He says this will help us to find the floors and avoid cutting through them by coming down from the top. The main question is if we will follow the floors east to west or extend the area slightly south into J7. We will try and reestablish the squares from the previous excavations to see if it will be feasible to keep the same squares as were used in the previous J2 excavations. [Input: T725CJC.j] | |
| 2009-07-28 | cJC | We will stop working in k15 as it appears we have cut through a surface. We also decided to remove f346 after breakfast. We will also draw the 3 sections from J7 when there is time so we can cut down the floor for a better view and approach to the apron and the staircase when it is entered from the J7 area. We will cut the whole of J7k6 down about 20 centimeters. [Input: T728CJC.j] | |
| 2009-07-30 | cJC | We have settled on a strategy in which we will begin the excavations by following the layers visible in the west section of k100 across k110. We will go down in k110 before attempting to follow the layers in any of the other loci such as k4 and k5. We will not leave a north baulk as it would block the apron and prevent us from seeing the connections of the layers with the apron (f131). Because k110 is only 3.5m the south section will serve as the east-west section (instead of the traditional north section). [Input: T801CJC.j] | |
| 2009-08-02 | cJC | In the morning we had a long meeting with fAB, pC, cJC, sG and sH to discuss the strategy for J2 now that we have reached the stratigraphic 'seal' of the salmon-colored layer (f359). fAB would prefer to expose the salmon layer in all the squares (k5, k15) before going down any further. He argues that this offers the advantage of seeing f359 exposed in all the squares at the same time. He thinks this is especially important if f359 proves to be the first floor associated with the construction of the apron (f131) and the second staircase (f132). I would prefer to go down in just k110 where we can easily follow the layers because they are exposed in the west section of k110. This allows for the careful excavation of each layer and allows us to keep the pottery separate as best possible. Then we could draw the west section of k110 before removing it while excavating k5. This again allows the advantage of following the section across ensuring that we can match up the features from k110 with those in k5. This second strategy does not allow us to see the same feature in all the squares. We decided to implement fAB's plan and began excavating in k5. We exposed several layers but it became difficult to match them with k110 despite having the south section. I met again with gB and fAB in the time after breakfast and we decided to table the discussion of strategy until tomorrow. [Input: T802CJC.j] | |
| 2009-08-02 | cJC | fAB suggested not collecting the pottery from the first 10-15cms in front of the apron for each feature as sherds may have slipped down into the cracks between the surfaces and the stones during the years. We will do our best to implement this strategy. [Input: T802CJC.j] | |
| 2009-08-02 | pC | Today we had a meeting with fAB in the field and we discussed the strategy for J2 for the next days. While in J2 the goal for this year is to find at least the first floor which goes with the main construction phase of the temple terrace and in particular with the construction of the apron f131, we are digging very carefully and check all pottery. In fact we want to date the apron f131; while there are many floors and thin surfaces in front of the apron f131, seen in the west section of k100, we are excavating slowly and with the small pick in k110. in k110 today was exposed the red salmon layer f359, which gives us a good seal for everythink under it. We therefore decided to stop excavating in k110 and move in k5 and reach the same feature f359: in this way we will have a larger exposure of this layer all through the apron. after exposing it we will dig it all and analyze the pottery [Input: T802PC.j] | |
| 2009-08-03 | cJC | After having a meeting with pC, fAB and gB yesterday we decided to draw the west baulk of k110 and then remove it above the salmon-colored floor (f359) so we can follow the layers across the baulk from k110 to k5 and go down all together. We will keep a small portion of the baulk just south of the apron so we can see how the layers go up and touch the apron (f131). We will not have a north baulk in k5 as it will impede our view of how the layers come up against the apron. When possible to distinguish them, we will assign the same feature numbers to the features in k5 as in k110. Presumably many of them should continue across the whole area. [Input: T803CJC.j] | |
| 2009-08-08 | cJC | Because we did not find the salmon-colored floor (f359) covering all of k5 and k4 as expected we will have to implement a new strategy. In south k4 and north k5 we found that f359 sloped down sharply, overlays f369 and does not continue to the north. Also overlaying both f359 and f369 right at the border of k4 and k5 is f367. Abutting the apron and sloping down and away from the apron (f131) is a gray layer with some sherds laying on it - we called it f368. We decided to excavate f367 first as it overlays the other features and so is the latest. When removing it we found what appears to be a very damaged plaster floor. gB suggested that we continue removing f368 using only a small pick and a brush to avoid damaging the original surface of f369 and to see if f369 slopes up and serves as the base for the plaster. Once we have finished removing f367 I would like to temporarily stop in k4 and k5. At that point we will have the exposure of all of f359 that still exists as well as some features that may be just below in the north area next to the apron (f131). The next step would be to continue across the west baulk of k5 to k15 and see if the f359 continues to the west. This should give us the complete exposure of f359. We will still leave the small baulk stubs right next to the apron to provide a nice sequence of the layers abutting the apron. Once we finish exposing f359 according to our original strategy we should go down in k110 to achieve the original goals set by the season of reaching the earliest floors associated with the apron (f131) and exposing the edge of the lower staircase and seeing if it continues west. With the last 10 days of excavation we should be able to expose all of f359 and then reach the earliest levels in k110. Excavating in k110 also has the advantage of exposing the gray layer we see in the west section of k100 to see if it is the same as f369 that we find in k4/k5 just under f359. This will not allow us time to achieve our goals of studying the early escarpment in k13 but it will be enough to complete some of our goals, notably the most important for our season of reaching the earliest floors associated with the apron. [Input: T808CJC.j] | |
| 2009-08-09 | cJC | Today we found several new features in k15 and it appears it may not be as simple as we thought to follow the features across the west baulk of k5 into k15 so we will slightly alter our strategy from yesterday. Instead of just following the features across we instead will work from the most recent features down in k15 as we find them. For tomorrow that means excavating f372 and f339. We hope that this will allow us to see what relationship f365 (that we see in the west section k5) has to the newly discovered features including the brickfall. Some of the changes we see delimited from east to west may be a result of a combination of the erosion we see in the south section and the possible difference in features that were in front of the apron (f131) and those that are west of the western wall of the apron (f127). We still intend to go down to f359 if possible in k15. After we finish exposing f359 in k15 (or alternatively, exploring its western edge)we will continue with yesterday's strategy which is to continue down in k110. We hope to add another pickman once we move to k110 to ensure we reach the earliest levels by the end of excavations. [Input: T809CJC.j] | |
| 2009-08-10 | cJC | Today we focused on understanding the accumulations in k15. Yesterday we decided that the best strategy was to excavate down from the latest features (f371, f339) and try and follow them in k15 instead of going across from the west baulk of k5. We started by removing f371, the flaky gray layer on top of f339. We wanted to remove the hard gray layer f339. It was relayed and then we began removing it. We wanted to investigate this feature as pC had suggested it may have been the glacis (f319) referred to in the earlier excavations, now only preserved in the areas we removed under the baulks we cut back at the beginning of the season (f338 and f341). When we picked the hard layer however it came apart very differently in the two areas where the pickmen were working. Coming down from the north Kamiron found that the hard gray layer was very hard and thick (about 3cm or more) and when picked it removed a 10cm layer underneath as well. In contrast, in the SW corner where Mohammed Kher was working we found that f339 was extremely thin and came off easily revealing a dramatic pink layer (f373). This layer is soft and easily damaged with the pick. Because we found the gray layer (f339) overlaying several different features we suppose it is part of the erosion we see in the south section the cut of which we have defined as f336. I think it is likely that f339 is the last moment after the erosion when a small surface forms on top of all the layers which were exposed by the erosion which is then covered by the brickfall (f338, f341). Because we have now exposed several layers (f373, f348, f374)due to the nature of the removal of f339 we decided to change our strategy slightly. [Input: T810CJC.j] | |
| 2009-08-10 | cJC | We discussed it with fAB and he suggested we return to the original strategy of following the layers across through the section of k5 to see how they relate to the newly exposed layers. In the west section we can see f365 and a thin yellow line which we have assigned f375. We wanted to remove f365 above f375 and see how it comes up against the pink layer f373. It seems that f365 would have covered the pink layer f373 but it was cut by the erosion. By following f365 across from the east to the west we should be able to answer this question. Before we could remove all of f365 we needed to expose the plaster layer (f375) and see its extent. We used the small pick and the brush to expose as much of this delicate layer as possible. Tomorrow we hope to finish exposing the plaster (f375) relay and photograph it before removing it. After we finish with f375 we will continue removing f365 across to see its relationship to the pink (f373) and the salmon-colored floor (f359). [Input: T810CJC.j] | |
| 2009-08-11 | cJC | Our main goal for the next day is to clear the accumulations above the salmon-colored floor (f359) in k15. We do not want to expend too much time focusing on k15 because we also want to finish excavating k110 down to the earliest layers associated with the apron (f131) and the staircase (f130) before the end of excavations. We are finding that in the south portion of k15 the layers roughly conform to that which we found in the south part of k5 - that is, a series of thin accumulations (f365) covering the salmon-colored floor (f359). We will go down to f359 in this section and then move northwards exploring the full extent of f359. We anticipate finding some indications of erosion in the northern part of k5 as we already saw eroded layers in north k5 and in k4. We discussed our strategy with gB and fAB and they suggested that after 2 days we stop in k15 even if we have to make it a smaller square with a north-south section about halfway across. They suggested this because we are all worried that we will not have enough time to finish in k110. Also we will no longer remove our dirt via shaffat but instead will only move it down the trench (J6k200, J7k200) so we can have it available for backfill as we will want to backfill above f359 in k4, k5 and k15 [Input: T811CJC.j] | |
| 2009-08-12 | cJC | Today we finished working in k15 as we have exposed the full extent of the salmon-colored floor (f359) in k110, k5 and k15. Our strategy for proceeding is to take the views of f359 this afternoon and then begin working only in k110 for the rest of the excavation season. We will backfill k5 and k15 at the end of the season and we are finished working in these two loci for now. In k110 we intend to proceed with our two pickmen removing each layer and collecting all the pottery so we can date the earliest layers associated with both the construction of the apron (f131) as well as to explore how far west the steps of the lower staircase (f380) extend. We hope to achieve our goals of finding a date for the earliest levels of the staircase and also to see the extent of the lower staircase (f380) before the end of the season. [Input: T812CJC.j] | |
| 2009-08-13 | cJC | For the rest of the season we intend to go down in only k110 following the layers in the west section of k100 so we can find the first floor associated with the construction of the apron (f131) and the second staircase (f130). If there is time we would like to go down enough to expose the western extent of the first staircase (f380). [Input: T815CJC.j] | |
| 2009-08-15 | cJC | Because today we found human footprints in f381 in k110 gB suggested we stop in south k110 for this season to leave the footprints to be excavated next year. He suggested we make a sounding in only north k110. I suggested that instead of doing this we work in another area as north k110 is very small and it would be difficult next year to exactly correlate the features of the sounding with south k110. gB, fAB, pC and cJC had a strategy meeting at breakfast to discuss how to proceed. After discussing several options (excavating north k110, working in k13, cutting a trench in front of the apron, excavating down in J6k84, and making a sounding in k100) we decided to work in k100. We will remove the backfill and then go down to see if we can find the bottom of the first staircase (f380) and get enough ceramic material for a solid date of construction. We have three full days of excavation left so we should be able to go down a substantial amount as k100 is very narrow. [Input: T815CJC.j] | |
| 2009-08-17 | cJC | Today we decided to go down until the bottom of the pit (a12) in the southwest corner of k100. We will remove all of the fill f383 until we reach the bottom and then we will use the section of the cut (f382) to decide how to proceed in the rest of k100. We should be able to see in the section if there is a good stopping point. [Input: T819CJC.j] | |
| 2009-08-18 | cJC | We will remove as many of the pebble and sherd floors as possible to reach a suitable stopping point for the season. We hope to reach the gray layer we see in the section of the cut (f382). We will also try and cut back all our sections to make them as neat as possible for the final photos. [Input: T819CJC.j] |
https://urkesh.org/MZ/A/J02/D/-INC/strategy.htm