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Introduction
Extraordinary amounts of rainfall in the winter and spring of 2019 in Hasake Provence, Syria resulted in damage to the third millennium temple mound at Tell Mozan. A portion of the revetment wall at the junction of Mittani and EDIII construction (excavation unit J5) was washed out.Baulks in the lower plaza (excavation area J1) collapsed. After consultations with the archaeological staff, we designed and implemented temporary measures such as seds (water diversion channels) to mitigate the damages.
At the end of May 2019 the rains abated and work to effect a more permanent solution began. As the regular Mozan workmen were unavailable, laborers from nearby communities assisted in cleaning, bagging soil, and lifting stones. This phase took ten days with breaks for seasonal harvests.
Back to top: The maintenance works in the area J1
Progress of work
We started inJ5 where the section of the Mittani revetment wall turns to join the EDIII revetment wall. The huge stones were scattered on the ground with accumulated soil on them. Because we lacked enough experience to restore this wall section,a temporary structure was built to preserve the stones and protect the remaining sections of the revetment wall until a full archaeological team returns to the site.
Back to top: The maintenance works in the area J1
The first day
We started removing the soil which accumulated on the stones. Then we sorted them to put the biggest on the bottom to form a base. We were very careful to not disturb the soil that remained from behind the revetment wall. The soil was reddish and free of straw and sherds, but it contained a few small stones. It appeared that none of the soil had been sifted.
After cleaning and soil removal we reached the last excavated level. We placed a sheet of nylon (plastic) on the escarpment to denote the start of the temporary repair. Then we began the repair by using the biggest stones as a base.
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The second day
The work continued in the unit J5 but because of the difficulty of lifting stones we have relied on an instrument called al-Wensh (tripod winch) to lift the stones; however, we were having difficulty working because of the large stones.
After the stones were lifted and placed using the al-Wensh, masonry mud (a mixture of soil, straw and water) was used to fill the gaps between the stones.
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The third day
We worked in both units J5 and J1 .
In J5,after we finished placing the stones we needed to strengthen the standing section of the revetment wall of the temple as well as we could, cover the soil which remained behind the wall of the temple, and protect the reconstructed section. Because we wanted the repairs to have aesthetic appeal until it could be restored properly, we built a protective collar around the stones using burlap bags filled with the soilwhich surrounded the collapsed wall section. The bags were carefully placed until we reached the highest point possible. Then we ran out of the soil from the collapse.
As for the unit J1, we began to remove the soil beside the damaged section onboth the south and east sides. We filled bags with this soil which was to be used later to help protect the section against further damage.
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The fourth day
The process of removing soil beside the east and south sides of the section in the unitJ1 continued, as well as placing the bags in the eastern side. as to the soil which came from the section and will be used for the protection of the temple’s wall, we elected to sift it to recover sherds or other objects of archaeological interest.
Hammadi (our ceramics specialist) was interested in collecting every fragment that appeared as a result of the sifting process. Only sherds were recovered and personally bagged by Hammadi. The sifted soil was bagged and transferred to the top of the section and wall to be used later for building protective structures.
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The fifth day
We worked in both J1 and J5.
In J1, we continued filling bags with soil and placing them on the eastern and southern sides of the section. We also sifted and bagged soil and transferred it to the top of the wall.
As for the unit J5, after we ran out of the soil from the collapsed pedestal which supported the Mitanni wall, we used the soil which also had previously eroded from the section across from the collapsed wall section to finish building the protective collar. The bags which have been filled from the section’s crumbled soil were identified in a photo which I have annotated by the Freehand Program. Then we completed work on the collar.
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The sixth day
We finished the work in J1, where the soil bags have been placed and the surface leveled within the unit.
As for the unit J5, after we ran out of the soil from the collapsed pedestal which supported the Mitanni wall, we used the soil which also had previously eroded from the section across from the collapsed wall section to finish building the protective collar. The bags which have been filled from the section’s crumbled soil were identified in a photo which I have annotated by the Freehand Program. Then we completed work on the collar.
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The seventh day
After we finished the work inside J1, we moved to the second phase which is to build a protective structure atop and in front of the sections. We installed a framework of iron rods and covered it with tutia (corrugated metal sheets), which was attached to the iron rods in order to protect the section’s vertical surface from the rain in winter.
In addition, we welded the broken western door leading to J1, thus finishing construction work in J1.
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The eighth day
After installing the iron rods and tutia, we covered the top inside edges of the tutia with soil to prevent leakage of rainwater that may cause damages to the section. Then we placed tutia on the top surface of the revetment wall running from J1 through J5. Here we faced obstacles, because the large stones on the wall-top prevented us leveling the sheets of tutia, which were being tilted and skewed. Because we would have needed a large amount of soil to level the tutia, we decided to build a curtain using jader (burlap) to cover all the wall from top to bottom and anchoring it by bags of soil atop a layer of clay. This system will be installed at the end of autumn and removed around the middle of March after the end of the tourist season.
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The ninth day
After finishing work in the unit J1, where the iron rods and tutia have been in- stalled, we installed a burlap curtain backed with nylon (plastic) and attached by ribbons on the iron rods to protect the section from further erosion. The metal rods were spaced about 180 cm apart, except in the corners of the unit (northeast and southwest corners ) where the naylon side was installed against the wall of the section. The unit J1 after finishing work on the ninth day is shown in.
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The tenth day
We painted the tutia in the unit J1, where we have mixed three colors (light brown, white and orange)(Fig.34),in order to match the color of the surrounding soil.
Back to top: The maintenance works in the area J1