Chronicle of work in Unit OH2

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Introduction

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1998 - J. Walker

This project began when a local farmer, Saleh al Abrash, wanted to dig a well in the vicinity of a small ridge which is part of an elevated ring about one km in diameter that surrounds the main tell. It is roughly circular with irregular gaps along its circumference. Its precise function in antiquity is unknown. A number of soundings and modern activities in the general area (e.g. a grave, foundations for pylons for power lines, and a well for the house) have yielded pottery and artifacts dated to the third millennium.
One of the high points on the ring was within 20 meters of the proposed well. Therefore, we offered the use of our workmen to dig the first portion in an organized way to help identify the function and time of use of whatever had been built under the ridge, which was clearly not a natural feature of the landscape.

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History of Excavations and Strategy

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1998 - J. Walker

EARLY STRATEGY

We planned to have a skilled, experienced workman, Abd’l Kareem, supervise the digging, and to use two archaeologists part time to monitor the work and evaluate the artifacts, which were to be processed normally.

We laid out a 4-meter by 4-meter square, aligned to magnetic north, and established two control points. (We intended to survey the markers within a few days to integrate the measurements into the main Tell Mozan database.)

Centuries of plowing had blurred the distinctions between the color and consistency of the topsoil (feature 1) and the next two layers (features 2 and 3). Almost immediately, we began to find pottery from the third millennium, including one decorated Ninevite V sherd. (We did not find any pottery from later epochs.) While excavating the first layer of accumulation (feature 4) under the plow line, we found a sherd-like sealing and soon thereafter, a roof fragment with impressions of wood that was made from a very dark brown clay that resembled basalt. These items were determined to be of a style used in the middle of the third millennium, about the time that Temple BA on the main tell was in use.

LATER STRATEGY

As a result of these finds, we changed our strategy. By coincidence, we were in the process of refining the way the excavators used the data system, so we decided to treat the sounding as a formal project to test the system using real data and people.
If the mound had been a wall, then some human activity may have taken place in its vicinity, particularly if a gate had been nearby, which seemed a possibility. Under this hypothesis we could expect to see layers which sloped to the east or northeast away from the wall and perhaps even a glacis.

In the next few days we found more sealings, evenly distributed throughout the square. A new accumulation layer (feature 5), which we first believed to be a sub-floor because of its clear transition, was excavated. We found large quantities of pottery, all from the third millennium.

These discoveries, coupled with the horizontal stratification of the layers, led us to postulate that the mound may have been the remains of a building with an administrative function and that the sealings and pottery had been washed east into the area as the building deteriorated. This theory was strengthened when we found a thick layer of laminations (feature 8) under the accumulations. (Their color varied from brown to reddish brown, but the soil was consistently wet and had a greasy surface when scraped.) The laminations would have resulted from the water being trapped by some rise at their eastern end. Furthermore, some of the sherds from features 1 through 5 show evidence of transport erosion.
Because the layers had been relatively well defined we focused our attention to digging in the north half of the square to more efficiently obtain information about the stratigraphy. Although we never found a clearly marked containment for the water that transported the soil that made up the laminations, we did find three distinct regions of interest for further study. The western and eastern thirds of the square have intrusions of dark soil with included charcoal (the one on the eastern side was designated feature 10). The middle section has a triangular patch of reddish soil that has gypsum inclusions (resembling a sub-floor) in the north baulk (which we designated feature 11). There is also a line of stones that extend south into the unexcavated area of feature 8. We reached the point where we needed to open more squares to find the containment and the source of the artifacts. Since we did not have the resources or the time to do so this year, we closed the excavation and redeployed the workmen to excavations on the main tell.

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The 1998 season: strategy

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1998 - G. Buccellati

Originally, the excavations were started at the behest of a local farmer, Mr. Saleh al-Abrash, who wanted to change from wheat to cotton farming. To this end, he needed to dig a well to provide for irrigation of the new culture. Given the presence in the general area of stratified material excavated earlier (especially OH1, OA4, OB1), we felt it incumbent upon us to test the ground with our own team of workmen. Since the place proposed by Mr. al-Abrash was on the outer ridge of the general rise which rings the Outer City, we assumed that the results might be negative, and that it might be possible to give a positive recommendation to his request. We allotted a week’s time for the operation, with a crew of 16 workmen and two supervisors, Jim Walker and John Lynch. I expected that the supervisors need not be present at all time, and was glad to retrieve our old Volkswagen, which can hardly serve for extended trips, but could, and did, serve for transportation between the house and the excavations (a distance of about 500 ms).

As indicated above, we were forced to change strategy when the excavations yielded much more significant results than we expected. As of that point on, both supervisors remained present during the entire period of the excavations; we shifted to excavation with the small pick (it is to the credit of our workmen that the first sealings were found while digging with the big pick within the plow zone); we installed a tent over the excavation; and we introduced selective sifting of the dirt. I continued to visit the site on a daily basis, but for more extensive periods than anticipated.

Given the significance of the excavations, it was tempting to continue the excavations, either to a lower level to search for earlier strata; or laterally, to obtain an answer to the question of the original function and use of the area. I decided however against either option for a number of reasons. (1) We had reached a definition of the present setting, and a continuation of the excavations would in effect have started a whole new phase of the project. To bring further excavations to an analogous definition, and thus to a logical stopping point, might require more than the couple of weeks we had available in terms of our stay here. (2) Such a new phase would have required a far greater allocation of resources (human and financial) than we had available: besides the previous commitments that the staff and I had for other aspects of the research, and besides the non-availability of funds for the workmen (except from reserves on an emergency basis), we were not properly set up for a protracted excavation at such distance from our headquarters. (3) There was no immediate urgency to proceed with the excavations, because the retention of the field for wheat agriculture would allow us to resume excavation at any time in the future after the June harvest.

The short duration of the operation, and the relative wealth of finds from it, served also as good training ground for Jim Walker and John Lynch, neither of whom had previously been in full charge of an operation. I followed closely their progress, and the processing of the data. It was particularly helpful that both had undertaken, as their major task this season, the regularization of data entry and data processing systems – with John working in particular on J and E files, and Jim on M and R files. The need to follow a full operation, important if small in size, was an excellent way to see the full cycle at work from beginning to end. Also, the production of a CD in the field, and the use of a digital camera for the views (under the direction of Federico Buccellati) were new this year, and work on OH2 allowed us to test both, as is evident in the CD version of this book.

For the same reasons, it was also decided to give as much place as possible to typological analysis, and to conservation. Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati studied the seal impressions, and supervised the work on ceramic analysis. Sophie Bonetti cleaned the most important sealings and restored a beautiful Simple Ware bowl which was found almost complete. The descriptions, drawings and photographs of items, and the analysis of the pottery that is included in this Compact Disk are thus more extensive than is normally expected for a Season’s Final Draft.

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Publication: 2011

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2011 - C. Chaves Yates

The original 1998 digital publication of the OH2 excavations were published on a CD. See the essays by J. Walker (Methods) and F. Buccellati (Digital Photography) for more information about how the 1998 CD was created.
In the intervening 12 years there have been many updates and additions to the UGR system as it was adapted to the “browser edition”. Beginning in June 2011, C. Chaves Yates has undertaken the task of converting the OH2 CD into the current UGR browser edition. Texts, visuals and an introduction to the digital publication in the form of a slide show that were produced in 1998 are represented in this edition, sorted into the different sections of the discursive analysis.

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Presentation of CD: 1998

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1998 - G. Buccellati

The original 1998 CD included a slide show and accompanying sound files. They are presented here as a video.

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Impact

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1998 - G. Buccellati

As a result, it seemed inescapable that we should recommend against development of the area by shifting from a wheat to a cotton culture. The impact of a well on the immediate area is too negative: a fairly large area becomes unavailable, as smaller structures are built around the well, and the various intakes of water for the channels reclaim an area considerably larger than the size of the well itself. Besides, cotton fields are far less accessible for archaeological excavation than wheat fields. For our good fortune, the owner of the parcel of land, Saleh al-Abrash, was extremely cooperative and understanding. He accepted with the best of good graces our negative opinion, even though this is the only piece of land in his property where he could in fact develop the more remunerative cotton agriculture. We are very grateful to him for his friendly attitude, and to our guard, Ismail Musa, for the vigor and fairness with which he assist us in enforcing the respect of the antiquities in the entire archaeological area.

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This version

2011 - C. Chaves Yates
Portions of this Chronicle were included in the original cd publication produced in 1998. Additional portions have been written in 2011 during the process of updating the cd for the current form of the UGR. This version is current as of August 2011. Each section has the author and year indicated.