.bk A14
.fl N830jl.j
.fd journal entries
.ed N830
.ei jl

.ri jl
.rd N830

v 46
ds This view shows the second layer of bricks which we found under the top row of f31 bricks.  Although the bricks are broken and of generally poor quality, they were evident to us.  We removed the top layer of bricks in order to ascertain that the "wall," which had always been slightly ephemeral, did in fact consist of more than one course of bricks.

v 47
ds This view shows k2 and k12 together, and the wall which stretches across them, f31 and f89.  Although f89 has been visible since the first season of excavation in A14, it was not until today that we realized that it was the highly eroded southern extension of f31, rather than a part of the f42 ledge.  f88, the accumulation within it, is tentatively equal to f32.  v47a looks at the face of the wall visible within k2.

v 48
ds This view shows the possible cooking installation f104 and f103 in context.  mkb has suggested that f103, the bricks, might be a bin of some nature associated with f104, a cooking vessel.  We will be excavating in f33 around these features.  v48a looks at this area from a different angle, in order to show the k2 east section better.

v 49
ds This view shows the two pits, a8 and a9, being excavated in k1 and the excavations within k100.  v49a is a tight view showing a9 and the eastern part of k100.  It documents our excavation of f83, the extension of k100 to the east in order to better understand the sequence of cracks in the surface of f80, which (as this picture shows) extended into f83.

v 50
ds This view shows the white material found in f91 next to i35, a brick coated in bitumen.  A sample was taken of the white.  v50a is a wide view of k3, showing the brick and white material in relation to the east section.

v 52
ds This view shows k2, including the presumed cooking installation f103/f104.  It also shows how f104 has been badly damaged by two years of exposure.

v 53
ds This view shows the north baulk of k3 after its first excavated layer.  We are not using the MZ14 season numbers for this baulk because now, seeing it in section, we understand it much better and are making different feature divisions.  v53a is a wide view of the square, showing the north baulk intersecting the east baulk.

v 54
ds This photograph shows the first part of the burial a10 which we uncovered, the top of the grave goods.  The burial extended east, into the area which we had not yet excavated when this picture was taken.

v 55
ds This view shows the area of a9 which we excavated within k100.  After this point, we combined f80 and f83 under the heading f80, since they were clearly the same accumulation.  This pit a9 appears very shallow, but most of it is within the eastern baulk, so it is deceptive.

v 56
ds This template shows the completely uncovered burial a10, with each of the items individually identified.  v56a shows the same image, but with the flp's drawing grid over it.  v56b is a medium view, looking north over the burial to the palace beyond, and showing the k3 north section underneath the burial.  v56c is a wide view in the same direction, showing the entire north baulk of k3.

v 57
ds This is f95, the layer of soil within a8 full of animal bones.  This layer was extremely distinctive; although bones had been found previously, they were never in this quantity.

v 60
ds This view shows the first of the white layers, presumably made by reed matting, that were seen four seasons ago in A12k6 by jo.  This means that we have reached the elevation at which the ritual connection between the platform and the api was still observed.

v 68
ds This view shows the strange bricky mass, f105, found in the baulk of k3.  It also shows the sequence of features with which the k3 east baulk was excavated this season, after this picture was taken.  One of the legs of the dirt train from A18 and the rope along its side are visible on the left side of the photo; there was no way to remove this from the photo.  v68a is a tight view of f105; v68b is an oblique overhead shot of the same feature.

v 71
ds This is a view of the pit a8 after the fill within the k2 east baulk has been removed.  The various features of pit fil are outlined in section.  v71a is a medium view looking down at the south baulk of the pit.

v 72
ds This picture shows the cooking installation, f104, after the top layer of soil and pottery had been removed.  The vessel was named i77.  The bottom layer of pottery, visible in this picture to show their location, was afterwards removed and added to the other sherds from the vessel.

v 73
ds This view shows the ledge along the north of k11 after the first layer of f38 had been removed, revealing a clear distinction between red and black soil.  We dug the black, f123, first, then f124, the red.  v73a shows the whole locus, context for the main view.

v 74
ds This view shows our planned removal of the south baulk of k11, f131, and f127, the extension further south alongside A12k23.  We did this in order to better establish the connection between the api in A12 and the stone wall a5 in k11.

v 75
ds This view shows the east baulk of k11, with our planned excavation of the east baulk marked, f131.  We are removing this baulk in order to better understand the connection between the api in A12, the wall of AF visible in the background of this photo, and the line of stones a5 in k11.

v 76
ds This view shows the newly uncovered tannur/fire installation in a11, the aggregate of the walls f20/f31/f89 and everything contained by them.  The features marked on the k12 and k13 north baulks in the background of the photo are the features according to which we excavated them this season, separate from two years ago's feature numbers.

v 77
ds This view, a daily photo within k11, shows the locus after the removal of f127, f131, f134 and the top of f133.  Our plan is to make a new locus east of k11, so that we can see a continuous section from k11 to the palace wall.

v 78
ds This is our daily view of k2 and the east baulk of k3.  We will excavate outside of a11 today, in f129 and f33, on the belief that f31 was built up from a flat surface, instead of lining a pit dug into the accumulation.

v 79
ds This is our daily view of k2 and the east baulk of k3.  We will continue to excavate outside of a11 today, in f129 and f33, since we believe that f31 was a built-up structure, rather than the lining of a pit.

v 80
ds This is our daily view of k11.  We will continue leveling the bottom of the square today, digging the area of f134 to the west of a5, since this still seems to be topsoil-type accumulation.

v 81
ds This is our daily view of k12.  We will continue digging the east baulk, today in f137, the layer below the topsoil.  We have created new features this year for the baulk removal, since it was clear from the sections that we had not properly understood or followed the layers of soil when we first excavated two seasons ago.

v 82
ds This is our daily view of k11.  Today, we will remove the north baulk, f133, according to our new excavation plan.  Instead of trying to draw a horizontal section to the palace wall in only k11 and k89, gb wants to expose k1, k2, k11 and k12 all at the same level, and then dig them together in layers.

v 83
ds This is our daily view of k89.  Today, we will continue digging in f138, until we find stratified accumulation.

v 84
ds This is our daily view of k11.  We will finish leveling f133 today.

v 85
ds This is our daily view of k12.  Today, we will finish leveling f137, the east baulk, and then begin excavating f141, the northern baulk.

v 86
ds This is our daily view of k89.  Today, we will dig in f139 and f140, to establish whether they are fill within another pit or not.  We quit digging f138 and created a new feature, f145, because we found what appear to be the outlines of bricks.  If f145 is a walltop, then a5 could potentially be an extension of the palace wall.

v 88
ds This is our daily view of k1.  We will continue excavating in a9 today, in preparation for excavating the layers across the four loci, k1, k2, k11 and k12.

v 89
ds This is our daily view of k11.  We started by excavating part of f143, the bricky mass that we had believed to be brickfall, but then gb suggested that, since f145 was possibly a wall top, f143 might actually be the very decayed top layers of a structure.  Therefore, we stopped digging in this area for the day.

.rd N814

a 5
nd gb suggested today that a5 might be an extension of the AF palace wall, rather than simply an extension of the api.  In that case, it would have been part of an external retaining wall for the fill underneath AF, a wall which presumably would have continued to the north (where we have not yet excavated).

.rd N830

v 90
ds This is our daily view of k3, showing our planned excavation of its east baulk.

v 91
ds This is our daily view of a11, which is spread between k2, k3, k12 and k13.  We will excavate f142 today.

v 92
ds This is our daily view of k89.  We will excavate f146 today, which still seems to be modern soil from our excavations rather than stratified accumulation.

v 94
ds This is our daily view of k11 and k1.  Our original plan today was to dig deeper in a9 and to remove f124 and f153, in order to see the possible stones of a5 beneath them.  However, after we had removed the area of f124 west of a5 and f153, gb came and told us that we would have to finish excavating today, rather than continuing for three more days as we had planned.  So, we stopped excavating in both areas in order to focus on the k13 baulk.

v 95
ds This is our daily photo of k1.  We excavated further in f147 today, but stopped after gb told us that today was our last day of excavation.

v 96
ds This is our daily photo of the k13 east and north baulks.  We finished removing the east baulk and then drew the face of the north baulk where it had intersected with the east baulk.  Then, we removed all of the north baulk except for the north-eastern corner, so that we could draw its east face, and also have a complete east section for k13.  Finally, we removed the corner, revealing the rest of a11 underneath it.

v 43
ds This view shows the small piece of metal (presumably modern) found in the small area of f79 excavated within k12.  v43a is a context shot showing the whole locus.

v 44
ds This template shows k1 and k100, specifically the three pits, a4, a8 and a9 in those loci.  v44a is a view of a8 specifically, v44b a tight view of a9.

v 45
ds This view shows a7, the head of a small burial discovered while digging down in k4.  v45a is a wide shot to give the context.

v 51
ds This view shows the section of the pit a8 as we excavated it.  f84 is the cut of the pit, f81 is the fill.

v 61
ds This view shows the location of the seal impression i26 which was found in the baulk of A14 while cleaning in preparation for excavation.  v61a is a context view, looking down the trench along the A14 baulk.  v61b is an overhead oblique view of the location.  Because these photos were taken before excavation had begun and because they were taken in an area technically outside of the excavation area for this season, they are extremely dirty.

v 62
ds This view is somehow missing.  It showed the white line on the surface of f34, like the cross-section of a layer of plaster which we had cut, which was our first evidence of f149.  Unfortunately, no other view shows this image.

v 63
ds This view is somehow missing.  It showed f149, the mass of soil with an irregular white plaster-like material covering it, when we first uncovered it.  An equivalent photo was taken the next morning, v64a.