.bk A12
.fl ZG525ms.j
.fd journal entries
.ei mS
.ed ZG525

.ri okk
.rd J731

k 6
-sg We will continue to excavate the remainder of f72 and f249 and find the beginning of f73 beneath it. Also to continue excavation in f131,to find the extent of the stone platform f252.

f 72
nr It is easy to discern the difference between f72 and f73 because they are so different in terms of compaction, color and consistency. f72 is fully excavated today.

f 73
ds Grey compacted material that now appears to be localized beneath f72. Until we began to excavate it was unclear whether it extended underneath f249 as well, at the same elevation.

f 249
-dy we excavated the remainder of this feature, and carefully took off the rest of the mudbrick until the vertical red accumulation which separated the two features, f249 and f198 (what I called previously a "mortar line"). gB suggest that this is the face of the wall f198. After peeling off the layer of mudbrick we noticed fissures that appear to have been created by roots, as well as phytolith impressions which also look like tree roots. This lends credence to the idea that the red accumulation is bonded to f198 and not f249, as one would expect tree roots to come on the outside face of a wall, and not between the wall and the "plaster". This accumulation does not look like regular mud plaster - it is very red in color and only about 2 cm thick. There also appeared bricks within f249 that are different from most of the bricks in this feature. They are smaller, red, rectangualr bricks, two rows and 8 courses deep which are found about a meter to the east of the face of the "cube", and at the dividing line between f73 and f249.

.rd J722

k 6

-dy It appears that the corner of W Wall f12 and NS Wall F--- is cut by a pit a6. In the W most end of f12 the stones and the mudbrick of the superstructure f81 (stones) are missing, and there are laminations of fine clay layers near the bottom. In the N part of wall f--- the stones of the superstructure f--- are also missing and the bricks are found in an oblique position as if fallen in a pit. The southern most end of wall f--- shows the stone foundation, one large stone of the superstructure. There is also a ground stone stuck in the surface of the corner of the walls. The pit seems to have been dug from above, but stops at the stone foundations.

f 246
ds the n-s wall connected to wall f12, corresponding to A10f---. "Pit" f247 intrudes this wall, so all that remains of it on the east face are a few courses of bricks on the top of the southern end.

f 247
ds intrusive element to wall f12 and wall f246. The stone superstructure, f81, of wall f12 and the stone superstructure f248 of w246 are missing in these areas, and instead is a debris that contains a compated brown soil, brick debris and larges pieces of brick, stones, and laminations of a fine clay near the bottom.

f 248
ds The stone superstructure of wall f246, of which only two stones remain. It appears that the other stones were robbed in antiquity because it forms part of the same structural elements (building) as wall f12, which has this type of stone superstructure, except for at the W end where it was also robbed. f248 is functionally equivalent of f81, the stone superstructure of wall f12, and probably f248 and f81 bonded, although this is obscured by the cut of f250.

.rd J722

k 6
-sg We began to excavate the "cube" of unexcavated material in the east of k6. This was left unexcavated in order to preserve the mud brick wall f45 for which is served as a support. We separated the material into two features: a6 (f193, f165), the pit which was dug into wall f12, and f72 (A12f226) which was excvated in the test trench k18.

f 72
ds consists of red bricky material with large pieces of red bricks and loose gray ashy pockets. There were also burnt wood impressions in the upper 10cm.

f
ds In the south and east end, next to wall f45, the debris is harder and more compacted, which we have now identified as the northern end of wall f---, which runs parallel to and is probably connected with this wall. The bricks are grey, sun-dried and rectanular in shape. But there are also a couple of large square bricks which appear to be part of the wall but could also be part of another feature.

f 193
-dy The remainder of f193 was excavated today.

.rd J725

k 6
-sg today we continued to dig the "cube" of unexcavated material that comes up to the NS wall, f45. We will leave a 10cm covering against wall f45 to protect it.

f 186
ds an accumulation of gray bricky material that is visible in the section of the cube. We identified it from the top and began to trace its boundaries. It also contains dark brown (burnt?) brick.

f 72
dy we continued to excavate this debris layer which is quite loose. It is now localized in the western part of the cube next to wall f45.

.rd J726

k 6
-sg We will continue to excavate the fill f72, but we are interested to determine if f249 is a wall. Yesterday gB noticed that there appeared to be visible courses of brick in the N face of the 'cube', although they did not appear in a clear, straight wall line. So today we will scrape the cut left by the pit a6 and the west face of the 'cube' to all, if we can find the courses of the wall. This should also clarify the relationship of f249 to f198.

f 72
dy Excavated another half meter, and probably found the bottom of f198, only four courses deep. Beneath this is fill which appears similar in character to f72.

f 249
dy After scraping the surface we were able to trace the courses of bricks by the mortar lines, though they were very indistinct. The bricks near the bottom were a very dark grey, unlike the upper courses which are light grey. 

.ri J727

k 6
-sg After consulting with gb and ab, we decided to excavate f72 and f73 down to f89, the pavement, and cut through f249, as well. f249 apperas to be a wall that was built in successive layers, as the fill next to it rose in height. It may have functioned as a restraining wall. It is attached to f198 which runs parallel to f45, which likely had a supportive function.

f 249
dy Today we excavated the N part of f249 and were able to ascertain that this was definitely a wall because the bricks were clearly laid, of the same type, and came out in large pieces or even whole bricks. We excavated until the mortar line which appears to separate f249 from f198. This runs vertically through the 'cube, about a meter from the baulk.

f 72
dy the boundaries of f 72 became clearer today and f73 also became clear. f73 appears to be fill that is just ashy, then a homogeneous loose red fill, with relatively few sherds and phytoliths.

f 73
ds this layer is accumulated against f45 and beneath f72 (and f249?). It is a very hard clay-like material.

.rd J801

k 6
-sg Today we will continue to excavate the remainder of f73 which covers f251, the pebble sherd pavement with a layer of phytoliths. We will leave the phytolith layer in place after being fully uncovered, and continue excavating to the west to follow the surface of stone platform f 252.

f251
nr While removing the accumulation on top of this pebble, sherd and phytolith pavement, some of the sherds from this pavement were removed. They were very distinctive because they had a thin layer of phytoliths on top of them. It seems that f251 continued to the north, and abutted the connection of walls f16 and f166. The evidence for this is 1: the feature is found localized in the SW corner and appears to be cut by the excavation of test trench k18. i.e., it would be highly unlikely that the pavement would have respected the boundaries of the 'cube' as it is an artificial construct. 2: There is a visible layer of sherds.

f 189
df bf
ds bricks on top of red bricks and stones. The color of bricks is somewhat reddish, but the texture seems different from AK wall bricks. It is only in the NE corner of k16.
tc co f190

f 190
df bk
K5 red

f 201
df ly
ds reddish soil mixed with debris of red bricks. It covers most of the area of k16, right above stone walls.