.bk J05
.fl S727jW1.j
.fd daily journal S727
.ei jW
.ed S727
.rd S727
.ri jW

-dy Today, the unit archaeologists worked in the house rather than in the field.  No workmen were present on site.  We focused on drawing templates, entering data, processing objects, and stratigraphic analysis.  There were several meetings in the house and in the field with gB, fAB, mKB and unit archaeologists to review progress to date and to revise the excavation strategy for the next period.
-sg We began excavating staircase f21 from top to bottom and from east to west.  After locating all of the steps (3) in k24 (the third ended in the west baulk), we moved to k34 to begin searching along the east baulk for a continuation.  We wanted to preserve the Middle Assyrian to Mittani transitional floor surface, f45, in the north half of the locus while excavating it and laminations, f63 in the south.  mKB posed the question of what happens if the staircase, f21, does not contine through the baulk.  If not, there would be a distinct possibility that we would dig through several strata and learn little.  As a result, we decided to excavate the east baulk of k34, then follow the staircase down and to the west.  As to the western loci, k34 and k44, we will stop in k44 and excavate k34 to see if stone installations f28 and f49 continue to the south through the baulk which separates these loci.  The geosurvey plot shows that a large structure makes a turn to the east in that general area.  Our working hypothesis is that stone installation f49 is the source of the trace on the plot and that it turns west in k34.  In k23, when the k22 north baulk removal is complete, we will excavate down to find the northern extension of revetment wall, f3, which penetrates the baulk from the south.