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Relationship to built environment and emplacement
Deposition refers to the order in which fixed and movable objects were placed into the ground, either intentionally or by natural forces. In the section Consituents, the objects were described in detail along several planes. In the analytical section Emplacement, the organization of elements with respect to function and relationship to others was described. Phases and Strata reflected the excavated order of objects grouped by time, often using the typology of objects for specificity. In the analytical section Typology, groups of objects were organized by function.
In this section we identify the transitions between phases or groups of strata to further analyze how objects came to be where they were found. Deposition occurred in one of two ways: intentionally or unintentionally. Intentional deposition occurs through construction or discard. Unintentional deposition (accretion) primarily occurs gradually while unintentional disaggregation may occur suddenly through unintended collapse or more gradually through erosion.
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Chronological review
In some ways similar to the adajacent excavation unit, A16, the depositional sequence begins, at the lowest level excavated, with some construction before the Tupkish palace. This consists of the ruins of a floor formed from cut stone blocks and a well. The next level is a part of a formal reception area abutting the flagstone courtyard A16a12. Floors are of plaster and mudbrick and are bounded on the east, south and west by substantial mudbrick walls laid on stone foundations. For a time the floors were kept clean and repaired, when the courtyard was abandoned, living accumulations began forming in the reception rooms.
After some time, the area on either side of the was remodeled to contain a shrine during the reign of Queen Tar’am Agade. When that was abandoned, the area was casually used during the UrIII and Isin-Larsa periods as the large void filled naturally.
At the highest levels the area was part of a Khabur town. The undamaged eastern part functioned as an industrial area, primarily dovoted to ceramics manufacture. Other than a few small Mittani ceramics deposits, occupation ceased and was never resumed after Khabur abandonment.
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Problems
Portions of what now is the reception area of the formal courtyard complex were previously excavated as part of unit A13 several years before excavations in A15 began. Unfortanately some of the records for A13 remain in Syria, including for the excavation of what is now A15k1, A15k2, and A15k92. What we do not know with any precision is the stratigraphic column above the west half of A15a59, including data on the remodel of the area during the reign of Queen Tar’am Agade.
The second major impediment to depositional analysis is the effect of the three major E-W gullys which cut the middle portion of the entire unit. Major portions of occupation levels from Khabur to late Akkadian were either displaced or washed away. In particular, it is all but impossible to trace deposition during the Isin Larsa and UrIII periods.
Last, the northeast corner of the unit was only excavated to the Khabur level (k11, k12). As a result, among other things, what was probably the entrance to and southwest corner of the residential wing of the Tupkish palace remained covered.
Back to top: Deposition Data