Back to top: Methods
graphic documentation
Grammar:
sections
plots
Plans: all of the exposed portions of the Temple Terrace have been drawn at a scale 1:50 for its ground plan, and at a scale 1:20 for the sections. The drawings were a stone-by-stone hand drawing. The measurements for the drawings were taken with the total station from the survey monuments placed around the Temple Terrace. All the drawings were then digitized in AutoCAD in order to place the structures on the topographic plan of the site of Tell Mozan. The so obtained topographic plan allows one to see the relationship between the temple, the walls, the staircases and plaza.
Back to top: Methods
chronology
How we correlate distant excavation units (J2/J6 and J1/J5)
Horizons, Phases, Strata see in Grammar and:
Buccellati&Kelly-Buccellati 2024
Echt 1984 Kamid el Loz Die Stratigraphie
Eichmann 1989 Uruk die Stratigraphie
Back to top: Methods
Building archaeology
Building archaeology is a method of documenting and analysing architectural remains that developed in Germany during the late 19th century in the context of archaeological excavations in Greece, Italy, Anatolia and Mesopotamia. One of its pioneers was the architect Robert Koldewey, whose work laid the foundations for the discipline. In 1924, his collegues estabilished the Koldewey Gesellschaft.
The methods of building archeology include the architectural survey, preferably carried out by hand drawing, the systematic measurenment and recording of all structural elements, including seemly insignificant details, and their description based on meticulous observation. The building itself is regarded as the primary historical source, from which information on construction techniques, building sequence, and later modifications can be reconstructed.
These methods were employed for the documentation of the architectural remains in Areas JP and BT. The drawings record the structures as they existed at the time of excavation and provide an accurate representation of their preserved condition through plans, elevations, and sections.
The accompanying architectural catalogues (secific labels) complement the drawings by providing detailed information on each structure, including its dimensions, elevations, building materials, construction techniques, state of preservation, and stratigraphic relationships.
Back to top: Methods
Stratigraphy and building archaeology
The only method available to support the dating of the architecture is the stratigraphic succession of layers covering its structures, which have been dated through a typological study of the artifacts found in it. Stratigraphy also provides information about how the structure was used through time.
Some structures of the Temple Terrace were excavated down to their foundations and thus are dated on the basis of the relative stratigraphic sequence of the layers that covered the structures, and the study of the material found in those layers. This study provides important information about its use.
In general only the demolition of the building or the excavation under the foundation and the analysis of the material found in it could provide a date of construction to that particular structure. Since this is not always possible, we can only have the date of the first use of the structure, the terminus post quem, for which we have the first used floor, dated by materials found in it.
The Temple Terrace consists of a series of stone structures. Also structures built with earth and mudbrick occur. The structures can be discerned and recorded as separate elements, as it happens in archaeological stratigraphy. In this way a building in archaeological context can be analyzed in the same way as stratigraphy, also because it is the result of the same process that produced the cultural material one can find in it.
A building is a multi-stratified object, composed of many structures that have been built through time and that created the building as it is now. In this way we can see and document a building as we study the stratification of layers and thus attain a picture of the construction, modification and destruction that took place during its life span.
Back to top: Methods
Specific labels
Specific labels are explained in the Grammar.
For JP, it is important to explain both the reasoning behind and the method of applying a unified labeling system. The area includes several excavation units J1 to J7, as well as B6, B7, and C2 excavated between 1999 and 2010.
A key issue was that different documentation and labeling systems were used in some areas, especially in C2 and B6, where a typological differentiation among Installations (B6-Inst. nr.), walls (B6-M nr.) and accumulations (B6 Fs nr.) was done. In the J area, each unit assigned its own feature numbers, typically starting from f1 onwards.
Only after reviewing the overall stratigraphy was possible to identify features that had been given different numbers but actually belonged to the same feature. This was achieved by comparing elevations, stratigraphic relationships, and physical characteristics such as color, dimensions, and texture, as well as chronological indicators like typology.
Another complication arose from baulks, the unexcavated testimonies left between loci, which sometimes artificially divided a single feature into separate parts with different numbers. Once these baulks were removed, the continuity of the feature became clear.
A further issue was the correlation of features excavated in different units across JP. However, after reviewing the stratigraphy, elevations, typology it was possible to assign them a single, specific label.
This already represents an interpretative level of analysis, in which the original recorded data are further developed and synthesized. At this stage, the rationale behind the interpretation and the processes inferred from the archaeological evidence are explained.
Based on this analysis, it was possible to create a concordance list and introduce a unified JP-specific labeling system. This approach allows features to be described more accurately and in their full spatial extent. Here are some examples:
-
We excavated a huge brickfall in four excavation units. Firsly was recorded in the eastern section of C2. It was excavated with a number of features in J2, in J6 and J7. We were sure at the end of excavation that this brickfall belonged to the same event of collapse so that it was given a JP specific label JP^bf1.
-
The revetment wall is a good example for architecture. At the beginning of excavation, when it was firstly discovered in a small trench, became a B6 Instllation nr. B6-Inst.42. Afterwards the wall was exposed until its base in Unit J1 and became J1f72 number. The wall was followed in J3 where it became J3f10 number and in J2 it became a J2f128 number. In order to describe this wall, its dimensions, construction and function, the entire wall was labelled JP^wl5.
-
A third example are the floors excavated in front of the monumental staircase, in the Plaza. These floors were exposed firstly in the sounding in C2, then the same floors were excavated in J2 and J6. Only with an accurate analysis was possible to make a concordance and give finally a JP number. See for example JP^fl1.
Specific labels of structures
Each structure is identified by its function as wall, staircase, etc. and marked on the plan with a number. The walls are labeled with a ‘wall’, staircases with a ‘stair’, glacis with ‘glacis’ and escarpment with ‘escarpment’. A sequential number comes next to the letter. Each label is preceded by the excavation area. JP stays for area J and P for Plaza, BT for area B and T for Terrace. For example JPstair1, BTstair1.
The structures are discerned on the basis of several elements, such as building materials, construction techniques, junctions and breaks, joins, individualization of anomalies in construction, detailing and function of structures.
The documentation section of this research is the basis for the building description and its analysis. The catalog and drawings give accurate and precise measurements and elevations of stones, single masonry units and architectural components.
Here is a list of the abreviations for specific labels
Back to top: Methods
Errors and corrections
Back to top: Methods
terminology stratigraphy
Grammar
Back to top: Methods