.bk A14
.fl O621jw.j
.fd daily journal O621, feature description f171-174
.ei jw
.ed O621
.rd O621
.ri jw

-wk 7 pickmen and 12 in support reported, with four additions and 1 deletion from O620.

-eq 3 wheelbarrows on site today.  Will be adequate for the next several days.

-eq in the next few days gb will have the dirt train from A17/A18 to the lower spoils dump moved to the north.  In its current position, it is marginally safe, but the supports and dirt spills interfere with excavation and limit access to the south face of the north baulk and the platform, which is necessary to guide excavation strategy.

-sg gb, gm and jw met briefly to review the progress in the first day of the excavation and consider any revisions in approach for the next few days.  As f170 in k5 represents the first horizontal surface encountered, we will pause work in that locus and move east to k4, partially excavated with no significant finds in MZ16.  Here we will remove the new material deposited over the winter and consolidated by precipation.  We will also re-cut the partially eroded baulks.  Similarly, we will repeat this process in k3, where according to what we see in the south face of the extant north baulk, we should see some occupational accumulation under the hardened crust which covers the locus.  Although we have not yet reached a level surface in k15, we will open k14 and move to the east, analagous to the move to k4.  The string of loci which includes k15 is in the middle of the gully and received the brunt of the wash from above over the centuries.  We fear that most of the significant architecture that may have once been here may have been washed away.  gm will explore the extent f170 in k5 to see if it is contained.

-dy In addition to excavations, continued cleaning loci excavated in MZ16.

k 22
dy close inspection of k22 after removal of backfill, f166, indicates that the plastic sheeting and the soil above it probably were the remnants of a backdirt pile and not a covered excavation from previous seasons.

k 5
dy finished removing the laminations, f169, and the small pedistaled group of stones, f168.  Now we see a relatively level surface, and we will temporarily pause here while we explore the immediate sub-surface to the east. gm exploring the extent and containment, if any of ash, f170

f 170
df ly
ds upon further exploration, what we at first thought was a thin layer appears to be a contained, more extensive and deeper deposit of ashy material.

k 15
dy halted excavations here, roughly at a level 10cm below k5.  No significant artifacts in the lamination, f169.  No signs yet of a level surface, paving, or architecture underneath.

k 4
dy began cleaning surface accumulation of loess, consolidated and hardened by winter precipitation, f172.  Made several pick runs and still have not reached either an ancient accumulation or architectural element.  However, at the end of the day it began to apppear as if softer material was being revealed, and there may be brickwork near and under the N baulk.  Cut new sections on all four baulks.  A quick read revealed no architecture or man-made surfaces.

k 14
dy removed two pickruns of topsoil.

k 3
dy removed several pickruns through consolidated loess, f171, similar to that in k4.  Later we began to encounter laminations, f176 which lay directly above living accumulations which contained third millennium sherds.  Cut new sections on extant baulks.

f 171
df ad
ds matrix of loess, blown into the uncovered loci k3, excavated in MZ16 during the winter and consolidated in to a crusty mass by periodic rainfall.
tc co f174
P1 O620

f 172
df ad
ds matrix of loess, blown into the uncovered loci k4, excavated in MZ16 during the winter and consolidated in to a crusty mass by periodic rainfall.

f 173
df ts
ds topsoil on the entire surface of k14.

f 174
df lm
ds laminations covering the entire locus of k3.  Within the matrix are a number of third millennium sherds.