.bk A09
.fl M914jw.j
.fd daily journal for M913, M914
.ei jlw
.ed M914
.rd M913
.ri jlw

-dy jlw took Munsell color readings for new features in the north baulk of k41 that were identified on the basis of analysis of photographs used in preparing templates.  Weathering has blurred some of the distinctions, but all were identified with selective picking.

.rd M914

-dy jlw took Munsell color readings for new features in k11, k21 and k24 that were identified by analyzing photographs used in preparing templates.  Weathering in k11 has revealed an even more complex pattern of brick work in the east and west baulks than previously observed.  We will reexamine the templates to see if the new features are visible.  In k24, jlw observed that a large animal had dug a burrow in the NE corner of the locus.  We had hypthesized that this region was a small section of the SW corner of a room formed by pise walls f325 and f348.  The fact that the burrow was dug in a place expected to contain softer accumulation/fill than the pise, adds credence to the hypthesis.
-dy Overall, jlw identified four new features:  f373, a thin layer of granular brownish clay-like material above the pise floor (f354) in k21; f374, several courses of bricks seen in section above bricks (f359) in the north part of the east baulk of k11; f375, several courses of bricks seen in section in the north part of the west baulk of k11 (probably associated with f374); and f376, a layer of soil above the topsoil in the north baulks of k23 and k24 resulting from the weathering of the berms.

-sg the above illustrates the dichotomy associated with additional observation.  Certainly, we learn more individual facts about what was built there, but on the other hand, more excavation as proposed in M909jw.j may interfere with the timely reporting of the considerable information we have obtained in the excavations to date.  It now appears to jlw that the wiser approach is to forsake any additional excavations so that full attention can be devoted to publishing the global record in a timely fashion.  The penalty will be that we will not be able to absolutely verify the strong hypthesis that the time that the pise walls and pebble floor in k24 were in use was the last phase in which there was continuity in settlements across the entire face of that portion of the tell.  (There is already strong evidence to that effect provided by the pise construction and continuity in elevations in structures separated by less than 10 meters.) In later phases, buildings to the west and to the east were clearly separated by a gully, which was spanned by a stone and sherd path.