.bk J02
.fl O714ap2.j
.fd daily journal
.rd O714
.ri ap
.ed O714
.ei ap

-sg since we finished the excavation in k93 reaching the steps of the monumental staircase, we moved the team down in the German trench. We started to clean the section in the upper part of the stair, removing with the big pick quite a lot of soil. Tomorrow we hope to be able to use the new machinery of Sabah to take away the dirt. On the other hand we decided to go on with the cleaning of the northern part of the area removing the soil in k2 e k12. The goal is to have a visual as complete as possible of the "apron" and the stone wall. Since otherwise we want to join the oval we are going on with k33, k43 and k53 but excavating just one meter on the northern half of the squares.

-wk Jubar (k93), after faidos, asked to go home for eye's problem; Ahmed (k14) didn't come and he was replaced by Abdul Jabal. We added an other pick-men in k53: he is Majid which was a shovel guy. 

-sy BP placed some new markers in k3, k13 and k14: m3811, m3809, m3810, m3726. Since we removed the baulks placed in k2 and k12 we removed the following markers: m3646, m3630, m3725, m3811, m3597, m3576 and m3584.

-eq Sabbah told be that maybe the elevator does not work since the "tapis-roulant" is too much vertical. He proposed to put it slightly oblique and maybe we'll try to use it in the squares k3,k13,k4, k14, k5, k15.

k 53
dy we went on removing top soil (f57, q143) from all the surface. Above it we noticed a different feature (f66) brownish and with a medium compact soil, not so different from the top soil (m3704 +68 - 144). We decided to remove just a surface of 1X4, near the northern baulk, trying to reach as soon as possible the stone wall exposed last year in JO1 (q154).

k 43
dy we are going down removing the layer below top-soil (f60, q144) from all the surface.

k 33
dy we are going down removing soil between the stones (f61, q145) around and north of f54. We did not remove much dirt since the team was moved in k2.

k 12
dy we employed the team which worked in k14 to remove the southern part and the southern baulk of k12  The soil is quite soft which grass and roots, quite easy to remove. The goal is to expose and clean all the stones came out during the German excavations understanding if the stones belong to a wall and its alignment.

k 2
dy we employed the team which worked in k33 to remove the southern part and the southern baulk of k2. The soil is quite soft which grass and roots, quite easy to remove. The goal is to expose and clean all the stones came out during the German excavations understanding if the stones belong to a wall and its alignment.

k 14
dy we finished to clean the southern part of k14 ( f15, q146), levelling the surfaces of the square and living all the stone of small size. On the other hand we cleaned the southern part of the German trench.

k 15
dy we are going on finishing to remove the top-soil (f58, q147) and excavating the layer above the top soil ( f65, q152). This feature starts at m 3788 + 85 - 144 and presents, in the northern part, a quite compact soil with few stones of small size.

k 83
dy we started to remove the southern half of the square (f62, q148) and we went on in all the surface ( f62, q149). We decided to go on above all in the northern part (f62, q153) with the goal of reaching, as soon as possible, the steps of the stair.

k 100 
dy we started to clean the section in the upper part of the stair, removing with the big pick quite a lot of soil from the almost collapsed walls of the section. After we went down with the lower steps removing all the soil mixed with pottery and small stones accumulated after the German excavations. We found quite a lot pottery above all where the big trench crosses the trench going from east to west. We made much dirt that we hope to be able to clean tomorrow with the new machine of Sabbah.