Installations

James L. Walker – June 2011

Synopsis

^escarpment 1	EDIII stone escarpment built to protect the EDIII wall from water damage
^escarpment 2	EDIII stone, sherd, and soil escarpment built atop the stone escarpment to protect EDIII wall from further water damage
f74	Early Mittani packed soil escarpment to the northern extension of the EDIII revetment wall, f41.
^structure 1	Late Mittani staircase which provided access to the BA temple.
^structure 2	Early Mittani staircase which provided access to the top of the EDIII revetment wall, f41.
^erosion protection system 1	Middle Mittani dam and holding pond built to control water past the EDIII revetment wall.
^erosion protection system 2	Two late Mittani stone piers built to divert flowing water away from the Mittani revetment wall.
^bin 1	Late Mittani stone enclosure and pavement which forms the last entrance to the BA temple before it was completely covered.
^floor 1	Mud plaster floor surface and associated stonework perhaps built during the Middle Assyian period
^floor 2	A series of natural accumulations (some loess and some water deposits) leveled, then compacted by foot traffic, to form the floors for the sacred plaza located to the west of the monumental staircase that was associated with the Mittani period western extension of the entrance to the BA temple.
^apron 1	Decorative stonework on the BA temple side of the EDIII and Mittani revetment walls.
border 1	Lines of stones arranged north to south to the west of Mittani plaza which delimit the western border of this sacred space.
border 2	A clear line of large bricks running north to south upon which at least some of the walls of the Mittani plaza west border were built. It may be a floor or a wall top, but further excavation is required.

Discussion

There are several categories of installations in J5. The first are escarpments, weirs, and dams that protect the revetment wall systems against damage from water flowing by them. The second are borders that delimit functional areas. The third are special stone structures that provide access to functional areas. The fourth are miscellaneous decorative and functional installations.

A. Water Protection

The bases of major stone revetment walls were always protected from erosion by escarpments, sloping structures which abutted the wall and diverted water away from the junction of the wall’s foundation and/or the lowest courses of stones or bricks. The portions of revetment walls in J5 were, at various times, protected by escarpments of stone, stone, sherd, and soil layers, or packed mud.

During the middle of the Mittani period the higher portions of the wall was protected by a dam. It was a complex structure built of mud bricks laid on a stone foundation, backed by a settling basin containing fist-sized river pebbles. The east end was anchored by the Early Dynastic period revetment wall, f41, while the west end anchor has not yet been excavated.

At the end of the Mittani period a simple stone groin was constructed to protect the southwest corner of the late revetment wall.

B. Borders

Two lines of border stones delimited the western extent of the late Mittani sacred plaza. The first west plaza border was line of north-south stones parallel to the temple entrance stairway paired with an additional two lines and a threshold located to the west of the first. The second was a neat line of well formed mudbricks that likely formed the top of an earlier wall.

C. Access

At different times during the Mittani period, stoneworks provided access from one part of the site to another. Early, a stone staircase was built to enable transit from the vicinity of the escarpments at the base of the revetment wall to the wall top. At this time, we have no evidence that the staircase was associated with sacred activity. At the end of the Mittani period, a path and specialized stonework were constructed to provide a transition from secular to sacred space on the BA temple mound. Named a bin, it provides access to sacred space at the north end of the rebuilt revetment wall. Given the relative crudeness of the stonework and path, it must have served the last remnants of the Mittani population in the region after the western monumental access had been covered.

D. Miscellaneous

The first of these installations is decorative stonework similar to what we have called an apron along the east monumental staircase. This apron consists of large stones laid like a pavement inside the revetment wall. The second installation is a rough mud surface and associated stones which seem to define a temporary temporary floor which would have been fabricated very late in the history of the tell, perhaps in the Middle Assyrian period or later. The third is a series of compacted accumulations that form the earthen floor of the western plaza.