.bk A14
.fl N817jl.j
.fd journal entries
.ed N817
.ei jl

.ri jl
.rd N817

-dy At the beginning of the day, we split our efforts among three areas: the step f124 beside the stones f45/a5 in k11, the pit a9 in k1 and the baulks of k13.  However, gb decided upon his arrival in the morning to change our excavation plan from the previous workday: we would not continue digging around the stones a5, but that we would stop digging for the season at the current level, except for removing the k13 baulks.  There are two reasons: first, more workmen are needed in A15 in order to clear up some important areas before the end of the week.  Second, in the event that our previous hypothesis is incorrect, i.e. that the stones do not continue underneath the step, we will not have time this season to properly excavate the layers across k1 and k11 and solve this stratigraphic problem.  Rather than possibly ending the season with this question, it will be better to wait until next season to approach the problem, so that the evidence will be fresh and we will have the time to properly excavate the series of layers, rather than cutting into them as was our plan.
-sg We will focus today on removing the k13 northern and eastern baulks, and consider that the end of our excavation season.  Most of our workmen will go to A15.  This will give us extra time to complete the A14 book before the end of the season.

.rd N816

-dy We did not dig today, in order to get caught up with templates and feature descriptions before we enter our last week of digging.  We stayed at the house and worked on the computer and on objects.

.rd N814

-dy We started today by excavating in a9 in k1, in the red brick f143, the red bricky material in the k11 east baulk, and in k12, in f142, the accumulation within the wall of a11.  Within a11, we discovered a group of strange, floor-like surfaces which seem to be associated with the "tannur" f132.  We decided to turn to the k13 baulks, in order to uncover the last corner of a11 and hopefully understand better the purpose of a11.  Upon seeing the excavation in f143, gb wondered if it was perhaps the very decayed top of a wall, and decided to quit excavating there.  Instead, he suggested that we begin excavating f124, in the step still overlaying a5, in an effort to better understand the stone formation a5 before the end of the season.  He agreed with our plans in k13.  In the second half of the day, we dug also in k13 and k89, in an effort to perhaps see the stones connecting a5 to the palace wall, but were stopped by a layer of apparent bricks (although the wrong color to be palace bricks).
-ar Although it may have been a retaining wall associated with the api, as was our previous theory, it could also have been the foundation of a wall associated with the palace wall to the east, since it is aligned with the palace wall (for which we never found the stone foundations, presumably because they were too deep).  If another, parallel course of stone is concealed underneath f124, then a5 would likely be associated with the palace, perhaps as an extended foundation of sorts for the eastern wall, because the thickness of the palace wall is approximately two foundation stones thick.  In the trench to the north of A14, the stone foundations of the wall are visible, but more than two meters below our level.  gb pointed out that it was unlikely that a wall meant to retain the packing on which the palace rested would have such a low foundation, and therefore the stones could be a part of an extended stone retaining wall.  We will only find this out by uncovering the area north of a5, and we cannot perhaps accomplish that in time if we try to follow the levels of the pathway across the two loci.  In defense of cutting the "layers" of the pathway, it must be pointed out that they are not really layers, not in the sense that they are visibly distinct from each other.  We know of their existence only as we find the white matting layers, often layered one on top of the other.  If we were to dig the "layers," we would remove a white surface and any accumulation of the same elevation at the same time.  Therefore, by cutting into the southern end of the accumulation (which is without white layers), we will not be disrupting the stratigraphical sequence.  We will also try to remove the k13 baulks, in order to better understand a11, and to excavate k89, with the possibility of viewing more stones there, as well.
-sg We will quit digging in the k11 east baulk and will instead focus on the step f34 beside a5.  We will continue in the k13 baulks and in a9.