.bk J02
.fl P808mH.j
.fd daily journal
.rd P808
.ri mH
.ed P808
.ei mH

-mk We removed markers m3956 and m3957 because they were located on the southern pseudobaulk of k4 which we continued removing today.

-wk Adil was away today because he had to enroll for the next university semester. In his place fAB gave us Resan and Suleiman.

-sf vVE returned back to the field. 

-eq The third elevator was running today having been fixed toward the end of yesterday.

-sg gB, fAB and us (mH, sC, aL, and vVE) discussed our strategy in case the oval wall f128 turns out to actually be from the Mitanni period. In case it does, we will not continue to the projected plaza level in k13 but stop where we think the wall ends. We might step back in k14 in order to give a better view of f128 if time permits. We will expose all of the apron f131 in k4 and step back in k5 in order to give a better view of it. In case the not-so-good quality wall f128 turns out to rest on or be a part of a earlier wall, we will continue to the elevation of the stone courtyard/plaza level (which ever comes first) as originally planned. In k4 we will still expose the apron f131 and step back in k5.

k 4
dy We continued removing the pseudobaulk with feature f152 (q402 and q405). In section we could see that the soil matrix changed from a fine, sandy soil to a crumbly consistency. From the section it seems that the soil has packed into little balls of about 1-2 cm in diameter, which crumble very easily. This change was very difficult to see when excavating, but based on the section we changed the feature to f155 to reflect this change. 
;it comes in the ugr as ds for k4
sg We stopped excavating approximately 30 cm above the highest stone belonging to f144 in order to wait for k5 to be brought to the same level before continuing further down. The goal with this is to understand the nature of f144, its possible relationship with door jamb in f129 and with f150. We can achieve this goal better if we approach the feature from above with a larger horizontal exposure than would have been possible if we just continued excavating the 1 m wide pseudobaulk.
ar f155 slopes towards the east and I suspect it is due to stone features f151 and f144, which delineate the SW corner in front of the pseudobaulk. It is possible that these stones contained material between them and the apron f131, and hence the process of accumulation was different to the north and south of these stones. It seems that to the north the accumulation was faster and hence a slope formed to the south and south-west of stone features f144 and f151. I suspect that f143, which we at first thought might have been a pit, also formed as a result of these stones. f143 was located higher up in this corner than the stones, but their presence affected the accumulation process also higher up.

k 14
dy Based on a strategy meeting with gB, fAB, and members of J02, we decided to start digging here and bring it to the same level k13 is currently. The hard surface we ran into within f156 is the same as feature f103 in k13. This hard layer consists of laminations, brown sand, and very fine, dust-like material that has hardened into a cement-like consistency.

k 5
dy We left a 40 cm wide ledge on the southern edge of the unit abutting the baulk in preparation for the stepped sectioning we will do later when we reach lower depths.