.bk A15
.fl N812jw.j
.fd daily journal for N812
.ri jw
.rd N812
.ed N812
.ei jw

-wk all assigned workmen reported except Safwan, who remained on absence granted by gb. Yasar departed at 1100 due to illness. fab notified after the fact.

-dy work continued in k2, k12, k14 and k15 from the provious day.  Except for the work in k12, we are removing accumulations atop what we believe to be Phase 3 and Phase 3 uses of the palace.  Accumulations in k14 and k15 have been either bounded or capped, so the pottery is being carefully segregated and analyzed.  In k2, we are clearing debris and surface accumulations from a floor which was made from the dense reddish brown clay commonly found in roofed palace rooms that have previously been excavated.

k 12
dy Sa'ud and Muhammad continued to remove the east baulk.  Along the southern edge, a N-S wall f42 (MZ14) was cleaned carefully and the bricks examined. They are severely deteriorated and appear to have been of low quality.  Some were laid vertically and can be seen to overlay an intact doorsocket associated with a stone threshold f92 (MZ14).  (The position of the socket indicates that the area to the south was enclosed.) The floors on either side of the threshold have been clearly identified with Khabur Phase 5c.  A N-S line of higher quality bricks seems to end north of the threshold.

ns excavations in A17k2, which shares the A15k12 baulk, have exposed a surface A15f12 upon which are a number of Khabur sherds.  This surface is about one meter higher than the k12 Khabur 5c floors.  One explanation for what we see is that f42 is brickfall from a Phase 5c wall bounding a room to the south of f92.  Another is that f42 is a retaining wall for a subsquent Phase 5d Khabur worksurface in the SW corner of A17k2 represented by the A17f12 floor, which is bounded on the north by a line of stones A17f9 and east by a line of stones A17f5.

sg on N813 we will clean and photograph the situation as described.  Then, we will remove f42 to determine its association with the Phase 5c features in k12 and the possible Phase 5d features in A17k2.

k 15
dy Mizar contined to excavate the south face of f491.  No bricks from the expected west face of f433 were encountered.  However the section revealed a clear demarcation between accumulation f491 and a cleaner browner one below, designated f509.  Ramadan continued to excavate the bulk of f491, moving from south to north in successive pick runs.  Late in the day, he encountered a dense reddish accumulation, designated f509.  It runs N-S and if it were the residue from a wall, it would be in an appropriate location to form the eastern boundary of a room containing the jars of a34 which have been exposed just to the west in k5.  Mizar also removed 20 cm of the pit fill f420 which occupies the space between the jars a34 and the block of accumulation f491 to the east.

sg on N813 we will excavate f491 carefully to expose f509 from the east and west so that we can determine whether it is a wall or a pocket of red accumulation from some other source.

k 3
dy Yestafad continued to remove accumulation f502 to the south.  There was less damage to the floor f505 from the pit intrusion than yesterday.  Later, he began to excavate accumulation f501 on the north edge of the locus.

k 15
dy Stef continued pick runs through accumlation f486, belived to lie atop the floor of an enclosed room.  i270, a cylinder seal, i271 a bowl, and i272 a large cup (left in place) were found.  There are sherds from at least one large jar decorated with a rope motif, but most of the sherds are from more delicate vessels.

sg on N813, Muhammad Hair and Abd el-Rahman will be detailed to us from A10 and will contine to excavate f486.  We will contine to immediately analyze pottery lots to get a positive identification of the phase.  The red plaster on the south face of brick wall f485 continues to appear across its entire length.

k 2
dy gb, fab, ba, sb, bm and jw met in the locus to discuss how to excavate wall f489 in a way that preserves the possible finely finished face.  We decided to remove a 33cm square block at a time from the approximately 3 sq m surface, each of which would include a wall segment, its coating and the matrix into which it fell.

sg We will photograph the wall from above and systematically record the position of each block so that the face can be reconstructed after exposure and cleaning.  Stef and Yestafad will assist the conservation staff in the project, which may last several days.

f 508
df ly
ds a layer of reddish material exposed in the SW corner of k15.
c# 5YR5/3
co reddish brown

f 509
df a
ds brown, very clean accumulation under accumulation f491, seen first in section in the NW corner of k15.