.bk A09
.fl J628jlw.j
.fd daily journal
.ei jlw
.ed J629
.rd J628
.ri jlw

-wk 6 large picks and 30 in support.  Received 7 extra workmen for 1 hour from A7 and used them to level k3.  Loaned one pickman to A7 after breakfast.

-sg we will continue the 3 phases of work begun yesterday.  In k3 we seek the bottom of the large pit, f114, as well as to make progress in preparing to excavate the entire locus from So to No.  In k8 we will move quickly to lower the locus to the current level of f74 in k4.  Based on the results in k3, we do not expect to encounter significant architecture until at least three meters are excavated.  However, because of the adjacency and height differential, we must be safety conscious and must limit the number of workmen that are active at any one time.  In k6 we are carefully excavating what was formerly A2 and A7 in the vicinity of the No wall of Sector B.

-wk Ju'an Hassan taken ill and sent home.

k 8
dy excavated approximately a meter of topsoil, k121, and the accumulation, k122 below.  Lots of pottery and a few bones.  A sharp contrast in texture delimited the boundary between topsoil and the accumulation below.  We are maintaining a 50 cm baulk to the east for safety purposes, and lowering at least once per day.

k 3
dy continued to excavate two main features, a large pit in the southern half of the locus and a uniform layer of accumulation to the north and to the south surrounding the pit.  Seeing occasional bricky material, but no evidence of a major wall below.  Approaching the excavated level of f74 in k4, an intermediate goal.

k 6
dy continuing to excavate the platform of accumulations to the north of the wall separating Sectors B and F.  Seeing an occasional hint of what may have been floors and packing, but since we were looking for a wall we did not thoroughly document each one as we might have.  The changes were subtile.  After breakfast, when we became aware of the stratigraphy available in the unexavated doorway immediately to the south that had been covered with burlap and plastic for several years, we began excavating that, a17, to attempt to link the two sectors.

.ri gb
pr I forgot that while digging in f110/f116 we were coming up to the doorway to room B1.  We still have a stratigrahpic link, and we'll now clear the doorway, look again at the section from the south (room B1) and follow it to room F1.
M2 the presumed western paving, f84,in room F1 may link up with one of the thresholds in the doorway, a17.  Floor accumulation, A1f113 ought to be below paving f84, and so we should get a good link to corresponding accumulations in room F1.

.ri jlw
a 17
df dw
ds doorway connecting sectors B and F of building AK.  Specifically, formed from major EW brick walls f124 and f125, it is a key passageway between what is likely to have been parts of the building with separate functions.  Unexcavated layers of accumulations within the boundaries are visible from the south and are expected to provide insight as to how the parts were functionally related.

a 18
df dw
ds doorway connecting sectors D and F of building AK.  Specifically, formed from major EW brick walls f97 and f125, it is a major passageway between what is likely to have been parts of the building with separate functions.  It marks the transition from the kitchen area (So) to what we believe may be a more formal ceremonial and residential area to the No.

.rd J627
.ri gb

k 3
sg the bricky material in k3 is clearly visible throughout the So half of the locus (except fot the ash contined at the bottom of a pit).  In the No half, there remains a layer about 15cm above the brick material, which has a very different color.  It still looks very probable to me that we have the top of the No wall of Sector F: to look for its possible two faces I suggest that we remove the So baulk and the No layer:  Since no red is showing in the No section of k4, we should have some containment to the bricky red material just to the No of that section, and presumably the same below the layer in the No half of K3.

sg given the possible appearence of the expected No wall of Sector F in k3, we will open a 2 m locus to the W of k3 that will hopefully come down to the other side of the doorway that we expect opposite the doorway between kitchen room D1 and the courtyard Room F1.

.rd J628

sg  the new locus k8 (west of k3) will be 3m instead of 2m wide.  The reason is that, if there is a sector No of Sector F that has some symmetry to Section D, we would expect a cross wall in the extension of the new locus.

.ri jlw

v 20
ph after removing the sayer of topsoil from k7 and cleaning the entire locus, a number of features (2 walls, a threshold, a possible stone retaining wall and a possible stairway) have just begun to emerge, as if from a fog.  This photo records this special moment in the archaeological experience.  v19a is a wide vertical shot to show the companion squares to the east that are expected to link with this architecture.

v 21
ph a narrow section of sherd surface was visible after partially excavating the platform left after the excavations in A2 closed last season (1997).  It is unusual in that very large sherds were used to construct the surface.  The photo illustrates the layoout and preserves in case the sherds become loosened from their packing and are removed.

-sy marker m2014 was loosened and removed to permit the south baulk of k3 to be removed.