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Elements
Installations are stationary elements that are the target of circulation within a structure or use area. In J6 we encountered two hollow pits and a round pit (see also J4 for a further pit in this area, i.e. J4a1).
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Discussion
The presence of pits immediately to the east of the monumental access, very close to the sacred area of the Temple Terrace but outside of the temenos, rises a number of questions about their function.
Pit a8 is a hollow of about 6 m in diameter and of about 1 m in depth. The cut f199 was filled with an ashy wet soil f192. The fill contained animal bones, pottery sherds, kilin waste, clay lumps, bricks and roof pieces, a broken tannur and broken objects. The the pit cuts and removes portions of glacis3 and glacis8: these glacis consist of a compact reddish earth. Another hollow pit, smaller in dimensions but located few meters south of a8, is pit2, 4 m in diameter and about 0.80 m in depth cutting glacis5. It was filled with ashy soil and a lot of material. The pit in J4 was located also in this spot pit2. Here was found a complete skeleton of a dog and a frog. These pits could have the function of:
1. Obtain soil from the glacis, since it removes part of it.
2. The pit was filled with a lot of broken material. Was this trash? Was a waste pit?
3. Ritual purposes. The fill included an amount of animal bones (i22, J4i5, J4i6)
The pits are dated to different moments (a8 to the EDIII Period, pit2 and J4a1 to the Mittani Period).
The round pit a1 was dug inside the mittanni brickfall. The function is unclear, since we could not find organic material (seeds for example) but it could be a storage pit. The assumption is due to similar pits found in Unit A16.
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