Items for Unit J7
Introduction

The objects collected as "item" from the excavation, meaning that their exact location in the ground have been measured, are 71, of which 21 have been found the very last days of digging, from 3 graves rich in material. These 21 items still have to be processed, among them there are 3 human bodies, at least 8 ceramic vessels, 4 pieces of metal, and 2 very elaborated beads. Among the remaining 50 finds, there are:

13 ceramic vessels, of which a small jar (i14), a bowl (i45) and a small strainer (i16) where found intact in the ground; two jar were almost completely reconstructed (i2 and 19), one is a jar with missing neck, found all fractured but held in shape by the soil (i4, see photo of how it was found V14d7552). In this case, the lack of the upper part and the extremely fragile condition of the ceramic made its reconstruction not a priority; the jar has been taken to the dig house with the dirt inside. The remaining ceramic items are parts of vessels that have too few sherds to be reconstructed.

9 figurines, of which i27 must be noted, an human representation of a female holding her breast, i23 is a very naturalistic horse head with an harness, i42 is a bird. The others are either unidentifiable animals, or parts of them, like a ram head i1

10 metals artifacts, mostly coming from burials, such as an important bronze bucket i.29 found all cracked but hold in shape by the soil, and the two silver earrings i33 and i36. Another interesting objects, coming from the large brickfall (aggregate 4) is a conical bronze strainer, i10, that was probably used to filter beverages on top of a straw. All these pieces went through conservation;the bucket will be a long term project. Among the pieces that still need to be treated two shoule be mentioned: a whole, long, bronze pin (i57) and a whole spearhead (i56) found together in a burial.

4 seal impressions, of which two turned out to have part of a figurative scene (i17 and i24); they both went to conservation for a cleaning.

2 lithic artifacts, of which a weight stone (i20) and a smooth oblong pebble (i37) found in the same burial of the bronze bucket
4 clay artifacts of which one is a fragment of an andiron (i19), more precisely, by comparing it with a whole andiron that was exacavated in 1999 (A11.34), it was understood that it is the uppermost part of the rear of an andiron, and it has decoratives punched holes; it was found in pieces and restored. Clay artifacts are sometimes readily recognised as stoppers, spindlewhorls, loom weights, but mostly they represent a generic category under which fall all clay pieces that are not immediately identifiable, being difficult to understand in terms of shape and function.
1 stone seal, i44, with a geometric incised pattern partially eroded by a calcareous corrosion
1 bead
1 kiln waster of a ceramic vessel
1 item was changed into qitem
Among the items there are also 4 human bodies

The objects collected as q-items are obviously the majority: 412. During their processing, 23 of these turned out not to be objects and were therefore discarded. This happens quite often with a category of finds called "clay lumps", lumps of clay that show some traces of human manipulation; these are potential seal impressions, and most of the times they are collecetd in order to check if they bear some kind of impression. If they do, they are passed on to the typological unit responsible for seal impressions; sometimes these lumps show impression of wood, or of fingers nail, in this case they are kept, if they don't show any human sign they are discarded.

The majority of finds is represented by lithic artifacts, 139 specimens. Most of these are blades and scrapers of various material, like flint, obsidian, chert, followed by stone tools like pestels,grinding stones, hammers that are usually obtained by river pebbles and are very smooth and polished; there are numerous round weights that can be easily mistaken for door socket, they are usually made of a rough white stone. Some pieces are mortars, usually made of grey volcanic, porous stone. None of these finds went to conservation.

The second most common group of finds is composed by clay artifacts, a category that is quite generic as was stated before. There are 54 of those objects, most of them are fragmentary, probably parts of figurines, of wheels, of loom weights, some are whole objects with strange shapes. Only a minority are whole pieces that can be identified for sure as specific objects such as stoppers, loom weights, spindlewhorls. Among the J7 clay artifacts there are two possible roofing pieces (q451.2, q471.1), a possible mold (q224.1) and a crucible fragment (q216.5). None of the clay artifacts went to conservation

The third group of objects are the figurines, 38, most of which are fragments of animal bodies, with the exception of one human figurine (q638.3) that went trhough conservation. There are very few complete animals; according to Rick Hauser's expertise on the animals typology, there are 3 ovis (q 402.3, q559.1, q573.1), 2 dogs (q512.1, q520.1), plus parts of rams, goats, horses, ox..

The following class of material are the metals. There are 19 pieces, all of which have been taken to conservation for storage and eventual treatment. Among these there are two whole bronze earrings (q348.2,q145.1), various earrings pieces and pin fragments.

Next follow the beads,13, of which 4 are made of clay, the others are made of various types of stone and their color can varie from white to grey to black to red.

Immediately after the beads are the clay wheels, 12, most of which are whole. They have been divided, according to Rick Hauser's typology, in 5 wheel types and there are examples of all 5 types.

The next group of objects are seal impressions, there are 9 of them. This class of finds is very difficult to understand in the field, as well as the clay lumps mentioned below, because their surface is often coverd with soil incrustation; for this reason they can be fully analized only after the cleaning. Of all 9 samples there are only 3 fragments of seal impressions showing few lines of inscription; 2 are certainly parts of door seal impressions, as suggested from their shape and from the wood and cord impression in the back. Most of them turned out to be clay lumps with some kind of impression but not necessarely of a seal. The clay lumps category includes 7 samples that, as already explained, were collected mainly as potential seal impressions but also as examples of clay manipulated by human activity: sometimes a clay lump could have originally been a ball of worked clay ready to be used as a tablet or to seal a door or a container. Sometimes they are mistaken for clay artifact parts.

Another class of objects are the ceramic vessels. There are 6 examples, and they are mostly parts of vessels that cannot be reconstructed.

Next follow the category of shells: there are 6 examples. With shell it is usually difficult to detect a clear use by men: although it is obvious that sea shellS would have been imported for making jewels (there are examples of perforated shells attached to earrings), it is rare to actually find them connected with the piece they were meant to decorate. Among the J7 shells, a few are fragemnts or flakes, two are clearly worked (q159.4 and q80.1) showing a perforation.

The last class of object collected are the bone artifacts: there are 3 pieces, one is a ring (q437.2)

There are another 57 q-items that are not objects but samples of various natural material like soil,bricks, seeds, carbon, lithics, kiln waist. Among the latter, q54.1 should be noted being a fine example of an overfired ceramic: it is a bowl that have partially melted during the firing in the kiln, and it has been deformed and fused with other vessels (see photo V14d4540-50)