Emplacement for Unit J6
Layering

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Topsoil

Topsoil is the upper ca. 20-30cm of the tell surface. It is characterized by being a dusty soil including roots, few small stones but also some pottery and modern material. A good exaple of topsoil is f5.

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Layering or gradual build-up

Accumulations are the gradual build-up of debris and material due to human activity and, to some extent, the precipitation of natural debris such as dust and sand. For definition an accumulation is bounded by at least one wall and we can observe elements such as pottery sherds and small stones or pebbles, ash and organic particles with a horizontal angle of repose. In J6, 49% of the features excavated are accumulations, with a total of 148 elements within 355 recorded features. The upper features in J6 were accumulations. We recorded different types of accumulations. Accumulations due to the process resulting from human activities and natural accumulations. During excavation is not always possible to give the correct definition, therefore we often used the general definition accumulation, or we had to change the definition to define better its nature. The list of all accumulations can be found in typological index.

In this section is given a summary of the most important ones:

Accumulations concerning abandonment of the area. The upper layers (about 1-2m) directly found unter the topsoil are characterized by the presence of small rooths, small stones and some pottery and animal bones. Few q-items were found in these accumulations. The soil is brown and soft, the elements contained in it form an inert matrix. The area is abandoned, the elements present in this accumulation such as pottery and objects are washed down from other parts of the tell (see accumulation 1).

Accumulations concerning human activity. We encountered accumulations on top of floor surfaces and installations, concerning the deposition of soil with other material (such as bones, pottery sherds, charcoal, seeds, clay and stone objects…), often with smashed pots or the finding of a group of beads in the same place, concerning the process resulting from human activities in place. Being these features important for the stratigraphy and use of the area, please see also floors and walls. Here are the most important ones:

1. f141 is a brown soft soil with an cospicuus amount of pottery and few shmashed pots that overlayied floor f140 and pit f142.
2. A soft brown soil with few inclusions f203 was found under wall f201 and above floor f204, i. e. glacis1 (see especially the east section of J6 w300).
3. In the northern part of J6, in k71 next to wall f218 a thick brown soil with mudbricks f238, stones and a large amount of pottery sherds covered glacis f240.

4. We found a series of [floors](#floor) south and fronting the east staircase wall 6. These floors were covered by 5-20cm thick layers of accumulations (sometimes recorded with the same feature number as the floor). A good example of such accumulation is f266, a reddish soil, 20cm thick that covered floor f271. The east section of k200 w109 shows the continuos layering of floors covered by thin layers of accumulations.

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