.bk A15
.fl L918okk.j
.fd feature descriptions
.ed L918
.ei okk
.rd L918
.ri okk

f 65
df w
ds NS wall that forms the eastern boundary of k100 (originally in A16k8). This wall abuts wall f11 at the southern end of f64, and appears to bond with f84 at its northern end. This wall is composed of eroded bricks at the top, and then the brick lines become indistinct. Below there is mud construction, which was not easy to distinguish at the point of excavation from the brickfall f54 which was contained within this small room, a13. The main reason for considering this still to be a wall at its lower end is that on the eastern side of this wall rests upon floor f71. At its highest height this wall measured 151cm. There were only about 4 brick courses before the wall becomes compacted mud.

f 65
tc re f71
tc ab f588
tc bo f84

f 66
df ad
ds soft accumulation, gully wash in the western end of k14. This matrix was soft, grey, with a high percentage of sherds and pieces of brick. This accumulation covered the western half of k14, until a more compacted layer in the east which wall f63 rests upon. f138 is the accumulation which is more compacted and appears like the wadi bed below it.

f 66
tc co f138

f 67
df a
ds accumulation above drain f70 in k12. This accumulation became clear once the accumulation on the southern end of the drain had been cleared. At that point the eastern baulk of k12 provided a section for these features, and it became clear that there was difference between the matrix that lay above the drain f67, brickfall f55 which lay above the floor f71, and compacted mud f69 which lay above the southern part of basin f27. This accumulation consists of homogeneous compacted mud which formed a wall-like structure resting on top of stone line f89. There was some suggestion of wall faces on the eastern and western sides, that is a relatively smooth vertical surface which could be distinguished as different from the accumulation to the east and west. At this point we considered that this might be a poorly-constructed mud wall, but the fact that it appeared to rest on top of a drain was mysterious. We decided to take a picture and then remove this feature, to determine if the drain continued in the same form northwards. Beneath this feature was f89, a line of stones. It is now probable that f67 was a compacted mud wall. Further evidence for this is that this wall was in alignment with wall f7 to the north, which is much more likely with a wall than with an accumulation.

f 68
df aa
ds accumulation on pebble-sherd floor f71 in k12. This accumulation consists of grey medium compacted matrix of 5-10cm which lay on top of f71. Above this feature was brickfall f55. Once the baulk between k11 and k12 was removed, f71 was found to continue and the remainder of the floor accumulation was dug as f75.

f 55
tc co f68

f 68
tc co f71

f 69
df a
ds accumulation above f72, f81 and f27 in the NE corner of k12. This grey compacted mud looked similar to f67 in consistency and shape. This compacted mud lay on top of the southern part of basin f27, stone line f81 and ash lense f72. It differed from f67 in that the western face was not as vertical and smooth, but looked like slabs of mud that had been placed on top of one another. 

f 69
tc ov f27
tc co f81
tc ov f72

f 70
df is
ds drain in the NW quadrant of k12. This drain consists of two rows of parallel stones and a shallow trough in the center. It runs from wall f43 in the south to stone line f89 in the north. It measures 1.2m in length. When the southern part of this drain was excavated we expected to find its continuation to the north under f67. After removing f67 we found f89, and it became clear that this "drain" did not continue. Further exploration at its southern end found no outlet for water, further confirmation that it is not a drain. It now seems most plausible that this installation is actually the remains of a stone foundation which happened to have been constructed like a drain.

f 71
df pc
ds pebble-sherd street in k11 and k12, continuing northwards into A16k8. This street stretches from doorway f92 in k12 to the end of house a16 in the north, a distance of 10.5m. It is composed of large pebbles and sherds set in a matrix of orangeish-brown floor material. At the southern end there is evidence of re-surfacing, as a second layer of this floor is seen beneath the first. The surface of this floor is not completely flat, and includes a few large flagstones. A couple of large flagstones near to f11 were given their own feature number initially, f86. Parallel to wall f11 there are a few large boundary stones f85. At the eastern edge of this street to the west of f27 there was found the skull of an animal, probably a sheep. SW of basin f27 there is i30, a lithic artifact which is identified as a threshing stone. This threshing stone has a hole broken through the bottom, so it probably would have been unusable.

f 72
df lc
ds ash lense next to f81 in the NE corner of k12. This ash lense was quite thin, but also included traces of burning which are still visible to the south of f81. This might have been related to an activity in basin f27; there has been some suggestion that the basin might have been created by the burning of a mud layer to harden the basin surface.


f 73
df ac
ds accumulation to the south of wall f43. In room a15 the accumulation was first dug as f44, then fallen bricks were found in the eastern end of the room. Beneath this was accumulation f73, a grey matrix with many sherds. 

f 44
tc co f73

f 74
df bf
ds brickfall found in a14, between k12 and k2. This brickfall was found to the west of f67, but looked to be similar in consistency to brickfall f55 to the east of f67. It consisted of a mix of pieces of reddish and grey bricks, with few large pieces of brick. 

f 75
df aa
ds accumulation on top of pebble-sherd street f71 in k11. This accumulation was first given after brickfall f23 had finished and the accumulation changed to a grey, medium compacted matrix. Once a small portion of f71 had surfaced, the feature definition was changed to accumulation on a floor. The extent of f71 was greater than originally seemed likely, so f75 encompassed a large area. It was 10-15cm in thickness, which varied as the surface of f71 varied in level.

f 23
tc co f75

f 75
tc co f71

f 76
df be
ds bench or apron adjoining wall f37 in k100. This bench consists of a compacted mud bench of about 10cm high measuring 190cm in length and 60cm in width. On the eastern and western ends of this bench are two 40cm bricks which are placed on top of the bench. There are traces of mud plaster that covered this bench. It is attached to southern face of wall f37 and the eastern face of wall 60. At its western end are bricks f77 which form a rectangular enclosure. Directly to the south of this bench was found a number of pot smashes, of large storage jars.

f 76
tc ab f37
tc ab f60

f 77
df is
ds two rows of bricks which form a rectangular enclosure in k100. The first line of bricks consists of 2 bricks long and two courses high, from the southern well-preserved end of wall f6. The line was not laid completely perpendicular. The second line is roughly perpendicular; from the southern end of bench f76 continuing in the same line. It is also 2 bricks long and two brick courses high. These bricks form an enclosure which is directly in front of the niche in wall f37. The accumulation within this enclosure had a very high ash content, but there was never any distinct floor surface found within it. In this accumulation was found i17, the clay door peg.

f 78
df bf
ds brickfall found in the eastern end of a15, next to wall f42. This brickfall consists of large grey bricks fallen directly to the west of wall f42. Because of the location of these bricks it seems likely that they were fallen directly from wall f42. This is in contrast to the brickfall to the north of wall f42 and 43, which was smaller pieces, more jumbled and different color bricks.

f 79
df ac
ds accumulation under f2 in k4. This accumulation is analogous to f41 in k3, which is the accumulation cut by the gully. It consists of highly compacted hard grey matrix with pebbles and sherds. It is sloping, with an upper step and a lower step. The elevation of the upper step is 8811, and the elevation of the lower step is 8695.

f 2
tc co f79

f 80
df be
ds brick bench or apron abutting mud enclosure f11. This brick bench is laid to the south of mud wall f11. It composed of a semi-circle of about 4 bricks long, and is only one course of bricks high. It rests on the stones of f86, which are part of street f71.

f 80
tc ab f11
tc re f86
tc re f71
tc ab f7

f 81
df he
ds hearth found to the north of f27 in the SE quadrant of k11. This hearth is roughly circular in shape, and it contains a lot of grey and white ash. Half of the hearth remains in the baulk and could be excavated in future excavations.

f 82
df ad
ds gully wash in modern gully in k1 and k11. f40 is the cut of this gully. This gully or wadi ran from the north of f27 through the southern end of k11 and the southern end of k1. The gully wash was easily recognizable because it was loose brown earth and contained a lot of modern debris including plastic bags, tin cans and cigarette wrappers.

f 83
df ad
ds gully wash in k94. This accumulation was relatively thin, and consisted of loose dark grey accumulation with a lot of sherds and pebbles. Once the baulk between k4 and k94 was removed, there was direct contiguity between the gully wash in k4 and k94. Most of the gully wash was excavated in past seasons when this square was under full excavation.

f 84
df w
ds mud brick wall that abuts f60 and bonds with f84. This wall, with f65, forms a small room a13. It is also part of the northern boundary of k100. This wall has clear courses of mud brick at the top, but after about 3 courses there is no distinct mud brick or even clear compacted mud wall. There are animal holes and inclusions such as animal bones in the lower matrix of this wall. The height of this wall is 157cm at its highest, although this is the height of preservation and probably not the original height of the wall.

f 85
df is
ds stone line that forms the eastern boundary for street f71. This feature consists of five large stones set in a NS line parallel to the northern end of f11. The stones are at a distance of 60 cm from wall f11. These stones mark the access of the street next to house a16. They also appear to mark the boundary between street use to the west and another type of use to the east. To the east of the street there is a hearth f81 and in A16, an area of pure clay. 

f 86
df pb
ds three large stones to the south of brick bench f80. As these stones are higher in height than street f71, they were found first in the northern area and given a unique number. After further excavation it became clear that these large stones were in fact components of pebble-sherd street f71.

f 87
df fc
ds medium compacted beaten earth floor that is the floor surface of small room a13. There is a doorway between large room a2 and the small room a13. In the inner side of the doorway, embedded beneath wall f60, is a basalt door socket which appears to be in primary context. Then there is floor f87 which is at the same elevation and physically contiguous to f21 in a2. The area of the floor is 2.20m in length by 1.30 in width. The room was probably longer in length as there is a bench or step in wall f84 where the southern boundary of this wall became unclear. This step projects out onto floor f87.

f 88
df w
ds small mud ledge parallel and next to the eastern baulk of k4. This mud ledge is composed of very hard, compacted mud. At the beginning it appeared as if there were eroded bricks, but as soon as any attempt was made to define them they disappeared. This wall appeared to be a continuation of wall f51 in k3, which stretched for a length of longer than 8m. In between these two walls are the large flat stones of f63. These walls appear to be some type of boundary line but without any major structural value. Its likely that these walls cannot be further understand without further excavation eastwards. 

f 88
tc ab f63

f 89
df w
ds stone line under compacted mud f69 in the NW quad of k12. These stones consist of three large stones in a NW-SE line that form the continuation of the stones of f70. Along with the stones of f70, they form some sort of composite stone wall foundation.

f 90
df fc
ds pebble-sherd floor in room a15 in k12. This floor is found at the same level as f71 to the north of wall f43. This floor consists of medium size pebbles and sherds, and continues to the southern baulk of k12. On the other side of the baulk in k13 the floor continues, and is f53 in this locus. The eastern part of this floor is covered by a thin compacted earth layer which appears to be a part of this floor. Embedded in this floor at the western end is i31, a large threshing stone. Embedded in the northern baulk of k13 on floor f53 is another threshing stone, i20. This floor is bounded by wall f42 to the east, wall f43 to the north, wall f94 to the west and the southern baulk to the south. 

f 90
tc ab f42
tc ab f43
tc ab f94

f 91
df bf
ds brickfall within doorway f92. The brickfall within the doorway between a15 and street f71 was given a separate feature number, particularly because the type of brickfall was not distinctly like brickfall f55 to the north or brickfall f78 to the south. Originally wall f43 appeared to connect directly to wall f42 without any intervening doorway. Wall f43 is made of ill-defined bricks and it was necessary to scrape the wall a couple of times in order to determine that an area towards the eastern end of the wall was actually fallen brick and not laid brick. The brickfall consisted of whole bricks and large pieces of grey sun dried brick. Beneath the brickfall was found two stones of a door sill, f92.

f 91
tc re f92

f 92
df dw
ds doorway at the eastern end of wall f42, between room a15 and street f71 in k12. There are insets on either side of the inside of the doorway, and a door socket i32 embedded beneath wall f42. The insets in the walls appear to function to allow a door to rest in them. There are two large limestone stones which function as a door sill. These are about 15cm in height.

f 93
df lc
ds pebble-sherd pavement in the NW quadrant of k94. This is a small patch of pavement which rests on the large stones f236, and is still partially covered by grey accumulation f101. It appears to be pavement rather than just a concentration of sherds because the sherds are laying flat and appear to be roughly fitted together. 

f 101
tc ov f93

f 93
tc ov f236

f 94
df w
ds NW-SE mud brick wall in k12 that forms the western boundary of room a15. The bricks of this wall are not very well preserved, and in fact there was some debate as to whether this was a wall at all. After following the mortar lines these bricks were confirmed as a wall that abuts wall f43 at its northern end and continues into the southern baulk. It appears to continue in k13, but part of it was cut by the gully in that square. This wall has a unique feature in that there is a layer of red packing beneath this wall, f95. This could be for levelling, or it could be the western continuation of levelling for floor f90. 

f 94
tc co f95

f 95
df ly
ds layer of red packing material beneath wall f94. This layer is composed of hard, highly compacted red material with chunks of white conglomerate. It is a layer of approximately 5cm in thickness. This type of levelling material is also found in a pit to the west of this wall, f47. 

f 96
df ad
ds baulk removal of the northern baulk between k4 and k14. This baulk was composed entirely of topsoil and gully wash, which is equal to the gully wash f66 in k14 and f2 in k4.

f 97
df a
ds accumulation below brickfall in a14. Once the brickfall appeared to have ended there is greyish-brown matrix, medium compacted with a lot of sherds. In this small room we continued to look for a floor surface at the level of other floors in this house, but there was no distinct floor surface to be found. Instead we found a few bricks in line from the eastern wall, and five bricks parallel to and next to wall f43. 

f 98
df a
ds brown accumulation to the east of stone line f85. At the northern end is an unusual grey patch of compacted material that was confirmed to be pure clay by yt. There are a couple of bricks (40cm square) at the southern end of this accumulation, near to hearth f81. 

f 99
df cut
ds cut of hearth f81. The cut is 40cm to the north of basin f27. The shape of this hearth is roughly circular, and is different from the other hearth in k1, a3. Part of this hearth goes into the eastern baulk of k11. 

f 81
tc re f99

f 101
df ac
ds hard grey accumulation covering k94 in an irregular arc from the SW corner to the NE corner. This accumulation was covered with gully wash f83. It partially covers pebble-sherd pavement f93 and the stones of f236.

f 102
df w
ds stone line that forms the western boundary wall of room a14, and the eastern boundary wall of room a12. There are four large stones which appear to be the stone foundation of a wall, although there was no brick material on top of them. They might also have formed a low boundary wall of only stones, particularly as it is between two small rooms and not the perimetral wall of a house. There is an opening at the northern end which could be a narrow doorway. This wall abuts f43 at the southern end.

f 102
tc ab f43

f 103
df a
ds accumulation below f41 in k3. This accumulation is the same as f41 in terms of matrix, but was separated as a separate feature because f41 was already quite thick. It was hard, compacted grey accumulation with a lot of kiln waste and burnt bricks. This accumulation covered the whole area of k3, except for the western end which was f100, an ashy layer.

f 41
tc co f103

f 104
df a
ds red layer below f69 in k4. This accumulation consists of a medium compacted red matrix, which appears to continue in k94 as f105. This red matrix is reddish but has a fine consistency when scraped, rather than brick which is looser with larger crumbs when scraped. Tannur f126 sits on this accumulation.

f 69
tc co f104

f 105
df a
ds red layer below f101 in k94. This accumulation consists of medium compacted red matrix, which continues in k4 as f104. 

f 106
df is
ds laid stones in the NE corner of k94. These are large flat stones, like flagstones. They are fitted together roughly, and form a corner. There is no further suggestion as to the function of these stones, they don't look like a wall, but more like some type of paving surface which has been damaged.

f 108
df a
ds red accumulation below plaster floor f219 and above sherd floor f134. This accumulation is very red, granular, medium compacted, with small white pieces. This accumulation appears to be a levelling material. At the eastern edge there is a distinctive plaster floor, f219. This floor is a thick white floor which covers a small trough. 
sg The decision to excavate in this locus was to further understand whether the stones of f136 indeed formed a wall, and if so, at what level was this wall founded. f108 was the major feature under excavation, and the boundaries of this feature were relayed at all corners. 

f 219
tc ov f108

f 108
tc co f134
tc co f133

f 109
df w
ds mud brick wall parallel and next to f12. This wall was first thought to be part of wall f12, but it is now obvious that it is a different wall. The orientation of this wall is roughly parallel to, but not exactly the same orientation as platform f12. In addition there were a couple of large sherds which were placed in between these two structures, laid against the eastern edge of wall f109, facing inwards. After excavating in f32 to find the floor surface associated with a12 and then removing a top layer of bricks of wall f31, we found that the bricks of wall f109 continued beneath f31. These bricks extended beyond the southern face of wall f31, so f109 was built first and f31 laid on top of it. 

f 32
tc ab f109

f 31
tc co f109