.bk J04
.fl Q909sC.j
.fd daily journal Q909
.ei sC
.ed Q909
.rd Q909
.ri sC

-wk Today was the last day of work for Hussein Husseni and Abdel Karim. Being asked for some workmen, I send one team (1P, 2S, 1W) to J1.

k 72
dy Today we continued digging f103 in k72 (q230, q236, q241). The feature is characterized by the presence of melted bricks, which gave to the feature a very compact surface. In the S area of the square some melted bricks have been exposed. These are in line with the bricks of f93 in k73. In the SE corner and close to E section of the square some tannur fragments have been noticed.
sg Tomorrow we will continue digging f103. We will try to understand better the relationship between the tannur and the bricks in the S area of the square.

k 82
dy Today we continued to dig in k82. We started by removing f75 (q231) in the S area of the square. This layer was approximately 5cm in height. Once removed we expose f77, a very compact surface already noticed two weeks ago while digging 180m N from r35 in this square. We did a general cleaning of this compact accumulation in the S area of the square (i.e. 80m N and 200m E from r35, q233); we then stop digging in this square.

k 83
dy We start by removing few cm close to the S baulk of k83, where on thuesday, a plastic fragment was noticed in a little area which was 5cm higher in elevation respect the square (50cm N and 40cm W to the NE corner of N baulk). Once we reached the same elevation of the square, we start digging f78 (q237) in front of the line of large stones exposed in the square last week (i.e 100m N and 400m W to the NE corner of N baulk). f78 is as noticed before, characterized by very compact layer, light grey in colour, soft once removed. By digging in this small portion of the square, we started exposing three different surface, approximately every 5cm, all flat and characterized by a compact surface, that once removed it is soft in consistence. These surfaces are characterized by the presence of pottery sherds and little pebbles (<4cm in diameter). At the elevation of m4408 +116 -138 in the S area of the square, close to the S baulk, we noticed a change in the surface: a small area characterized by a very fine texture and which is dark brown in colour. This is the same of f79 in k84. Two stones have been partially exposed, one close to the S baulk of the square. Tomorrow we will continue to dig in k83. We want to investigate whether other stones are located here.

k 84
dy Today we continued digging in the N portion of k84 (i.e. 180m S and 300m E to m4503). We dug f79 (q238, 243). We want to investigate this square, while digging also in the S area of  k83, in order to look what happened in this portion of the unit, and understand if here there is or not the Apron. f79 is characterized by a compact soil (which very soft once removed) which presents a crumble a very loose texture; f79 it is dark brown in colour and it is rich in phytolits (which give a platy structure to the accumulation when it is removed with the pick) and in organic materials. Also today several animal bones have been recovered in this portion of the square. At the elevation of q243 the feature is very compact, and very fine in texture; once removed it is very soft and smooth; the soil is wet and this give to the feature a very dark coloration.

k 80
dy Today we opened this new locus. k80 is a 500mx500m square and it is delimited by the following markers: m4473 (NE), m4474 (SE), m4246 (SW) and m4472 (NW). We decided to dig only half of the square, i.e. 200N and 400m W to m4246. We started by removing the topsoil and some little bushes (f114, q228) in this area of the square. The topsoil turned to be not particulary thick (aprox. 5cm in depth, whit only few roots being present up to 10cm under the topsoil). Once removed, we assigned f117 (q234) to the accumulation under the topsoil. f117 presents a crumble and soft consistence, it is a bit dusty when removed, and it is composed by reddish bricky material; this bricky material is loose and spread in all the portion of the square we are investigating. After the third pickrun, this reddish bricky material turned to be very compact and characterized by pieces of whitish plaster/inclusions. As for k81, where this layer has been exposed previously (f17, f18), we think that this bricky material is the red packing" found in J02, interpreted as being part of a possible "tower" or similar structure on the top of the starircase or on the temple terrace. In the morning, we agreed with fAB that, if the bricky material turned to be compact, we would have stop digging in this square. Since, after the third pickrun this reddish bricky material turned to be very compact (especially in the W area of the square), we decided to clean the whole surface and to stop digging in this square. However, during the cleaning of the surface with the trowel, we expose a tannur in the E portion of the locus. The tannur is located right below a stone, small in dimension.
sg Given the presence of the tannur, fAB underlined that the bricky material, is a accumulation which abuts the tannur, in spite of its compactness, which means it belong more probably to a structure of the temple terrace. He therefore suggested to try to understand the relationship between this red layer and the red layer we found in the N section of k81, and see if they are linked or whether they belong to a different structure.

k 70
dy Today we opened this new locus. k70 is a 500mx500m square and it is delimited by the following markers: m4469 (NW), m4470 (NE), m4471 (SE) and m3666 (NW). We decided to dig only half of the square, i.e. 200N and 400m W to m3666. We started by removing the topsoil (f115, q229) in this area of the square. The topsoil turned to be not particulary thick (aprox. 5cm in depth, whit only few roots; the roots are present until 10cm below f115). Once removed, we assigned f116 (q232, q235, q239) to the accumulation under the topsoil. f116 is completely different by f117 in k80. f116 is compact, although medium soft once removed, it is a bit dusty when removed and it is composed by soil mixed to small fragment of stones and pottery sherds. After the third pickrun we noticed that also in this square the soil was a bit red in colour, although the soil matrix did not looked to be bricky. It to notice that the NW corner of the square was characterized by the presence of several fragments of stones. These were located right on the top of the where we suppose f10 should be located. We started to keep this portion of the square and dig E to this. Once we dug for approximately 50cm in the square, we decided to start removing the W portion of the square, and we start exposing a large stone. Tomorrow we will contine digging here looking for the top of f10 in the NW corner of the square.