| Description (summary) |
2026-03-04 |
pC |
Wall with north-northeast, south-southwest orientation flanking the staircase in J2 for all its length. The wall is 12.67m long, 1.58m wide at the base and 1.20m wide at the top. It starts at the southern side with two stones set in oblique fashion (Betili f100, f177, and stone f186) and ends abutting ^wall1. The stones do not have structural function, but are decorative. The point of the eastern stone is inserted into the joint of the wall. Between the stones, the thin joint is filled with mortar. Between the backside of the western stone and the face of the wall, mudbricks are laid to give the same inclination as the eastern stone, which is thicker in width. The eastern face of the wall is exposed up to the base in a deep sounding. Here the wall is 8 courses high (2.85m). The northern end of the wall is only 1.80m high and rests on top of a mudbrick wall (f324). The masonry consists of medium sized (20 to 50cm wide, 15 to 40cm high) irregular and angular shaped bloks, roughly dressed and with flat sides, set in horizontally laid courses with mortar betwheen the joints.The wall is built on top of the slope of the mound and in several portions under w2, there are other structures: in the mid portion, where the wall is exposed for its maximum height, the first 2 courses belong probably to another wall with a southwest-northeast direction. This portion of the wall consists of undressed medium sized stones laid in uneven courses and the wide joints are filled with mudbricks and mud mortar. The wall is buttressed in the south western end. The wall is buttressed in the south western end. The buttress is 1.20 m wide at the base and sticks out for ca. 0.15 m, in respect of the remaining portion of the wall. The buttress has a base made of 3 to 4 small stones, sticking out by 0.14 m, also giving a base to the 3rd step of s2. The first 4 steps of s2 are built in such a way that they adapt themselves to w2. At approximately three quarters of the way along the wall, in the northern portion, the eastern face is irregular. The first two courses are set regularly in line with the rest of the wall, whereas the third row is shifted to the west, creating a bench of about 0.35 m (Pl. 51a). The fourth course consists of 11 small and medium-sized stones, curving slightly to the west at the southern end and overlaying step 19 of s2 (Pl. 47c, d). The entire upper southern portion of the wall (first 7 m) is covered by large and medium-sized angular flat stones, resting on top of a thick and irregular layer of mud (f127). [Input: ZK304pC.j] |