.bk A09
.fl J729jlw.j
.fd daily journal
.ei jlw
.ed J729
.rd J729
.ri jlw

-wk 10 large and small picks with 29 in support.  Last day of full work crews.

-sg the following items need to be accomplished by workmen over the next few days to complete the excavation: 1) cut the south baulk of k9 to make it level with the excavated south half.  2) vertically straighten the east baulk of k3 (finish job already begun).  3) draw the east and west baulks of k9 and the long north baulk of k4/k5/k6.  4) after final relays are taken, cut out the pylon along the south edge of k4.  5) cut an exploratory trench at the low spot of pebble floor, f80, to see if there is a drain associated with baked brick floor, f84.  6) after A12 is done excavating the square east of k4, finish excavating the far southwestern corner of k6, which is the wheelbarrow path for their dirt removal. 7) if resources permit, remove the platform in the north half of k9 to level the entire excavated part of the locus.

.rd J727
.ri gb

-sg work in k9 has fit red throughout, but we assume that it is not a wall.  Our projections presume that we should have a wall corner in the NE corner of k9; there is no visible articulation of brick material into recognizable brick faces; the color is not the bright red of AK not the gray of the AK rebuilding.  We will monitor the NE corner of k9 for changes in surface appearance.  Since we had the same red before in k3 and it turned out not to be brick, we assume that here too we have a laminated brick collapse.

.rd J720
.ri gb

f 155
df w
ds north-south stone wall in east portion of k3 and k4
H1 An imortant consequence of the exposure of the stone wall, which shows how the stone substructure is substantially lower than the southern walls of sector F, is the fact that we may still expect to find the eastern wall of sector F which had eluded in all previous seasons.  We have been removing steadily the mid to high floor accumulation in this portion of sector F, and we are about to come to the level which matches the stone substructure of f155, so we may soon have an answer to this question.  We had given up on the existance of this wall because we had reached a level lower than the matching wall on the South.  The effort at reaching the first floors in sector F, which at first was aimed at removing all the uneven steps left in previous seasons, may yet yield an important answer to the question of a screened access to the courtyard from the West.
L1 Why this wall should have a lower substrate than its counterparts to the South is an interesting question.  Could it be that it had to be plastered and plastering bricks was easier than stones?  Or else, was it on higher ground (as a result of terracing), and hence in lesser need of a stone base?

f 163
df pf
ds platform on the north side of wall, f1, made of baked red and cream-colored bricks.
H1 the platform is important for dating the sequence of strata within AK.  The erosion of the top bricks implies that they were exposed when no longer in use; hence this is most likely at the time when the mid floors begin.  Earlier, it was in use during the second phase of the use of the courtyard, the pebble floor.  At the beginning, it must have been in use during the baked brick pavement:  this we have not tested yet, but we will as soon as we have clear the full pebble floor.
M3 it is clear that this platform places a great symbolic significance on this doorway (and probably its matching doorway to the North).  What exactly it might have served for remains uncertain.  As a pedestal for guards seems unlikely given the elaborate color pattern.  For a statue?  For a water jar to greet incoming visitors?  Possibly also a statue with water like the one at the side of the throne room in the palace of Zimri-Lim, echoed on our seal k2.
M2 the high symbolic valence of the doorway to which the platform is attached strengthens the opinion I have entertained all along that the portion of the palace to the East is the most important one.  An important new question is whether we have a connection between this access and a possible access from the South in A12.  The monumentality of the access in A9 suggests that there should be a considerable amounr of space to the East of this access.  If so, one might expect that building extends further East than the perimetral wall of AK.  The extension to the South suggested by A12 may indeed provide such a space.  We cannot prove that circulation between the two portions of the palace (AR and AK) did indeed exist, but we may be able to do so through our current excavations in A10 and A13.  See new Projections floor plan dated J720.