.bk J04
.fl U228sC.j
.fd _J04 horizons h 65-MZA
.ei sC
.ed U228

.rd U228
.ri sC

h 65-MZA
df Rebuilding phase
ds The excavations carried out in J04 unit indicate that some activities start to took place in this area -located east to the monumental staircase J02f130- between the Late and the Middle Mittani Period (Phase 65-MZA). As we know from J02 and J05 excavation units, Phase 65-MZA is a period in which major rebuilding took place in different areas of the tell mound. In J04 unit, this 'rebuilding phase' is represented by different mud-brick and stone structures, all located at the same elevation and concentrated in few loci: k72-k73, k62 and k83. These structures include two stone walls (f84 and f159, in k62, of which only the top face was exposed), a nicely preserved mud-brick wall (f161-f162, in the south portion of k72, on top of which a tannur was found) toghether with a almost complete mud-brick structure (f93, defined as 'bin' structure) and portion of a brick wall (f170) in k73; furthermore, portion of an undefined brick structure was visible in the east section of the same locus (which could be part of a badly preserved wall), on top of which another tannur was found. At present (i.e., as the results of the 2006 excavations season indicate) we think that all the mud-brick structures found in loci k72 and k73, togheter with the two wall stones in k62 are all countemporary one to eachother and belong to Phase 65-MZA, the Middle Mittani Period. Phase 65-MZA is divided in the following strata: s14, subdivided in substratum s14a, s14b and s14c; s14a is a time period in which the J04 area is interested by a gradual build-up due to natural accumulations and substratum s14b is related with the erosion of these natural accumulations; in substratum s14c some activities took place in this portion of the tell mound as indicated by the construction of various mud-brick and stone structures (as for example, f156). In s15 these structures were still in use but, at the same time, apparently no other activities seem to took place in J04 unit; in particular, the portion of J04 unit south to the bin (f93), i.e., the portion of the unit corresponding to loci k64 and k74, was not in use at all in this time period, probably as a consequence of the brickfall bf^2, which took place in the area where J06 unit was set, and that interested the southern portion of J04 unit as well (for more information about the brickfall bf^2, please, see bf^2 in J06 Unit). s16 is related with a period of minor activities in the area where J04 unit was set, probably as a consequence of the brickfall bf^2. In J04, few are the evidence of the extended brickfall bf^2 that -as the excavations carried out in J06 in the 2008-9 seasons indicate- interested the whole J06 unit (and partially J07 and J02 units as well). Substratum s16a is related with the fire that is thought to have took place in the area where J06 unit was set just before the brickfall bf^2 (for this, please, see J06 s16a). Within substratum s16b and s16c seems that no activities took place in the area of J04 unit; the only evidence of the use of this portion of the tell mound is in s19b and is linked with a large pit (f136-f137) found in k100, located in the southern portion of J04 unit.
;****In locus k71, which was already partially investigated in 2001 by a German team directed by Prof. P. Pfälzner, we did not expose any feature belonging to Phase 65-MZA.
;The pottery recovered while digging in these loci was mixed Khabur and Mittani (Khabur in the upper layers, and late to mid Mittani in the accumulations below)
;the investigations in J04 Unit confirm this trend within this time period
;The bin structure, with mud-brick walls, is semicircular in shape and seems to have in wall f161- f162 its north limits.
;(known since when we were digging J04 in 2005, although we were not aware of its extension)