.bk A12
.fl j718okk.j
.fd journal entries
.ei okk
.ed J718

.rd J713
.ri mkb

f 164

sg I checked the sherds in this sherd and pebble pavement for the date. Since the sherds are still in situ only a very general idea can be gotten from them. Also since larger body sherds from thicker, stronger wares are usually used in this type of pavement. 

cp - POTTERY (J713)-- mostly CH body sherds,-- one P ware bowl rim sherd -- one very green, over-fired bowl body sherd -- Few S ware sherds and I did not see any WS body sherds -- no earlier sherds ns date uncertain.

.rd J708
.ri gb

f 111
M3 Short of a better explanation, I interpret this feature as a retaining wall which marks, in effect, the end of the AH settlement to the south. It would not have been built in function of the settlement as such, but of the the closest house. Clues in support of this interpretation are: (1) bricks are placed vertically; (2) it is a narrow line of bricks which certainly did not continue higher; (3) it is in line with the walls of AK, which would imply that the village came to rest on top of the "horseshoe" configuration of the tell that matched the outline of the palace below; (4) we have houses to the north, and only burials and tannurs to the South of f111.
sg We are removing the deposit to the South of f111, and then we will take a picture. We may in fact consider stopping excavating in k8 at the southern edge of f111.

.rd J714
.ri gb

k 6
H1 It is clear now that the stone paving at the corner of the two buildings is indeed a pavement, on the Northern side, there is a raised layer of stones that focus a bench set into the niche like a recess of the wall. This "bench" continues straight to the W end of the wall, and it serves as a ramp course as well. Why would the wall have these recesses (which match the inside arrangement of rooms)is unclear. 

sg The partial brick paving f146 is later, though it must obviously be in function of a (ceremonial?) use of this corner. It goes with the use of repeated mattings. (It is however a few courses deep: originally deep or rebuilt like the thresholds in the doorways?) We should remove the bricks and watch out for signs of possible rebuildings. 

H1 Z1-I reviewed more carefully the stone paving f146, and it does not extend to the entire corner between the two walls. Rather, it juts out in a shape with a footprint slightly larger than the brick paving f96 just above it. It appears that this was a single defined area that matched the recess in the wall. This is very important because herein must lie the reasn for the recess: it FRAMES A PLATFORM that extended south. This platform was originally made of stones, and then it consisted in bricks and matting later.

.rd J714
.ri gb

f 176
ds perimetral wall of A10, at jog by wheelbarrow east

H1 This corner finally explains the problem we had in understanding this wall when digging from A10 in 1997. Substructure stones were robbed but unevenly due to the jog. For this reason, several bricks remained in place above the stones. A greater amount of water fell in this hole than was usually the case elsewhere, and seeped through the bottom of the negative wall. This caused several of the bricks above to collapse, and much silt to collect at the bottom , together with broken pices of bricks. Because of the s-like arrangement of the wall, this general effect was particularly damaging. 

.rd J713
.ri gb

k 6

L2 Our basic assumption has been that the "paving" f89 could not really be a pavement because it matched the bottom of both walls f16 and f45. For this reason, we assumed further that bricks f96, "matting" remains f110, 116,158 and stone pavement f146 were steps leading up to the side of the platform. Now, however, we found stones at the bottm of pit f172 that seem to be the same as those of f89 (at the corner of the two walls). If so, this must indeed be a pavement. It may then be explained as follows. The wall f16 and the wall platform f166 were built at this particular juncture without foundation trenches. We had demonstrably the same situation in area A5 wher the walls were sunk into the ground by only about 20 cms. The inside of AK was partly raised with heavy packing (western part of secion c) and partly dug into the higher gound of the tell (eastern portion). The platform, too, rested directly on the ground (without foundation trench) of the western side, and was sunk into a foundation trench n the eastern side. 
sg We should consider clearing the whole "paving" f146 assuming it continues uniformly. 

a 21
df is

L1 One argument against considering these as regular steps or terracing stages is that they are very distinct in nature (one is bricks, the other is stones).

f 12

H1 There is a problem in the fact that the eastern sections of this wall is shallow founded and does not match the eastern perimetral wall which is deeply founded. The problem is complicated by the fact that the lowest paving is lower than the bottom of the foundations, which means that the bottom of the stone foundations would have appeared suspended in mid-air.

sg We do not fully understand the situation in the currently exposed portion of upper A12 (k8,k9,k10). We have stones and bricks/bricky material everywhere, but the overall pattern is not immediately evident. Following strategy meetings with MKB and with FXX, FAB, LKA we decided to expand A12 to the south and to open A13 to the east and north. FXX will take over A12 after jo's departure, and FAB/LKA will continue A11 on a much reduced basis and start A13. 

.rd J706
.ri yt

q 103.1

ds The slag-like mass which was found in the accumulation f102 near the ash pit f194 is concluded to be a chunk of high heated mud plaster. Generally, the clay from the Euphrates river includes low iron oxide. Like most of the ceramics which were found in this area, the clay turned green with high heating. In this case, the mass is a dark grayish green colour with lots of bubble-like voids. These indicate that this clay was fired in a high temperature (personally I estimate it was fired higher than 1000 degrees centigrade, but I cannot tell the exact temperature).The sample contains a lot of white particles, which measure a few mm to 2.0 cm in diameter. The white material was identified as calcareous, or calcium carbonate. This material is quite common for making mud plaster throughout a long period of time in West Asia. This fired material shows a possibility that this is associated with a construction like a metal smithy or kiln. 

.rd J703
.ri gb

f 111

L2 This appears to be a grave because it is well delimited from the top, narrow and rectangular. It could hardly be a paving. However, if this is the roofing of the grave, why is it flat? All other graves have a vaulted roof that collapsed, for the most part (except in area A8). Could this be a flat roof supported by beams? From memory, this looks like an exceptional shape. Yet no other explanation comes to mind. jo also notices that the bricks (all but one) have an exceptional rectangular shape.

sg Rather than removing the bricks from the top, we will remove the west baulk of k8, the bottom of which is level with the top of f111. This feature does not appear in the eastern section of k5, but it must become visible as we excavate east. Once we reach the limit of f111, we should be able to tell from the vertical profile whether or not it it is a grave, and we'll be able to plan our excavation strategy accordingly.

f 110 

ns [sr] The main value of this feature seems to be that it serves as a stratigraphic seal above paving f96. It seems logical that the paving would have been kept clean during its use period, so that no accumulation would have taken place on top of it: the paving was too important to have been covered up while it served its purpose. As a result, this area would have developed a very minimal stratigraphic depth. The plant remains f110 are laid very horizontally a few centimeters above the paving f96. Thus they were laid there shortly after the paving had lost its purpose. I attribute this to the transition from a palace to a non-palace function of AK.

f 96
ns see under f110.

sg The brick paving is limited to the east and the west, and it slopes slightly to the west. We consider the possibility of cutting the deposit to the east, in order to reach the stone "paving" at the base of the foundations of the two walls f199 and f168. But for now we will wait, since it seems important to understand better the relationship between the paving and the walls.

L2 A possible configuration of the paving might be as a series of wide steps, going down towards the east. This seems on the whole rather unlikely, but it might explain the loss of the bricks to the east -they would have been sheared near the top by the later accumulation. It will appear soon enough whether this hypothesis may be borne out or not by excavating to the west. 

.rd J702
.ri gb

M1 A large new building seems to be lurking in the ground. For now, we have not assigned any label toit, but a clarification ought to emerge from the current excavations. At this point the following observations are of interest. (1) The baked brick paving in k6 links AK with the new building(as possibly does the stone "paving" below"). (2)The stones f109 in k9, even though very high, are suspiciously aligned with the general orientation of AK walls. Do they belong together? (3)We might have here the monumental entrance to a more proper "palace" than AK as currently known. If so, there may be a passage directly from sector C to the new building.