Unit Book A9

A9-introduction

Processed on 2023-08-22

Date	Author	Record
1999-06-13	jw	The primary goal of excavations in a9 this year is to establish the perimeter and extent of the baked brick floor (f 84) originally discovered by Jamal Omar two years ago in k 5 during Season H. Although the western edge to the floor was found in Season H, the area uncovered was very small and its purpose could not be ascertained. It has been hypothesized that the floor is part of a central patio in the AK building, allowing access to the kitchen and storerooms on the south and other sections, perhaps even a ceremonial area and residential area, on the other sides. [Input: J613JL.j]
2002-09-08	jlw	the primary goal of last year's excavation was to determine the links, if any, between A9 and the settlements recently excavated in A7 to the immediate west and All to the immediate southeast. We found ample evidence that the first settlements to be build over the remains of the palace did indeed extend across the entire breadth of the mound. At first, there were a variety of materials used for construction, including mudbrick and stone. Later, there was a noticeable shift to pise for walls and floors. The settlement continued across the entire mound. About the time that Khabur painted pottery came into use, the center section was abandoned, although there was a transverse stone and sherd path that linked the houses on the western edge with those in A11 and A16 to the south. By the end of the third week in July 2001, we had clearly answered the research question in the affirmative and excavation work was halted. The entire group of excavators was shifted to the main palace complex to assist in maintaining the scheduled pace of excavation in the southern part of A15. As a result, the normal time that would have been devoted to such tasks such as drawing sections, preparing drawings of the architecture, analyzing pottery and other small finds was lost, although all the important data was entered into the global record. Over the winter, jlw, the area supervisor, conducted some preliminary stratigraphic analysis and continued to process data. [Input: M909JW.j]
2002-09-09	jlw	this is probably the final season of excavations for A9 as such. There is important evidence of a substantial late Khabur building and at the highest elevations, a Mitanni settlement. These may be explored in future seasons by way of a new area designation. Thus, the primary goal of the work this year is to prepare the data from seasons MZ10 through MZ15 for publication. To this end, jlw spent the first few days of this season reviewing the database to organize the display portion of the global record. [Input: M909JW.j]
2002-09-30	jw	a step trench was dug (through what now is an expanded A9) in MZ6(1990). A full report was not prepared at that time; however, there are documents in the files at Tell Mozan that can contribute to the understanding of the overall stratigraphy of A9 as revealed in excavations in MZ10(1997), MZ12(1999) and MZ14(2001). The first problem was to identify the MZ6 loci. By comparing the features from MZ6 whose photographs are in the file with those found immediately under the backfill in MZ14, it is possible to say with some confidence that: A4k110 is roughly equivalent to k51/k52, A3k111 is roughly equivalent to k41, A3k112 is roughly equivalent to k31, A3k113 is roughly equivalent to k21, A2k114 is roughly equivalent to k11, and A2k115 is roughly equivalent to k10. It is not exact because the grid used to lay out As was re-oriented to match the palace after it came to be revealed at the bottom of the step trench. MZ6 was divided into two phases. In the first, every other locus from 105 at the top of the mound, to 121 at the bottom was excavated. Then, in the second phase, AS was divided into four areas, A1 through A4, and selected even numbered squares were excavated along with the odd numbered squares to study the various phases of occupation of this part of the tell, from Akkadian to Nuzi. [Input: M930JW1.j]