Unit Book J5
J5 Synthetic View / Typology / Built Environment

Architectural data for unit J5

James L. Walker – September 2009

Introduction
Structures
Installations
Deposits
Functional areas
- Sacral Borders
- Sacral Areas

Introduction

After the end of the second season of excavation we began to organize and describe the results by defining features in related groups called “specific labels.” These are then sorted by the categories listed below, for which here we provide some examples:

Walls are structureswhich organize or limit circulation. There are three groups of features which each describe a wall system built at a specific time period.
Water protection systems are installations, designed to serve a single function. There are three of them built at different times for the same purpose.
Accumulations within a specific area are deposits that can be grouped according to when they were laid down.
Walls and their escarpments and the pavements outside them are features that perform a particular function, that of emphasizing the majesty of the temple and separating it from other structures not used for rituals.

Structures

^wall1	Earliest wall system found so far; tentatively dated to the Late Chalcolithic period	v214
^wall2	Early Dynastic III wall extending from J2 in the east through J5 in the west. J5f189=J5f41=J3f11=J2f128=J1f72	v223
^wall3	Mittani addition atop ^w2 to preserve separation between sacred and secular areas.	v224
^strc1	Mittani monumental staircase built as part the westward retrenchment	v123

Installations

^esc1	EDIII stone escarpment built to protect ^wall2 from water damage	v214
^esc2	EDIII baqaya and layered escarpment built atop ^esc1 to protect ^wall2 from further water damage	v195
^esc3	Early Mittani escarpment to the northern extension of the EDIII revetment wall, f41.	v56
^wps1	Early Mittani stepped stone projection built to divert flowing water away from ^wall2	v218
^wps2	Middle Mittani dam and holding pond built to control water past ^wall2.	v192
^wps3	Two late Mittani stone piers built to divert flowing water away from ^wall3	v135
^bin1	Late Mittani stone enclosure and pavement which serves as an entrance to the BA temple.	v122
^flr1	Mud plaster floor surface and associated stonework perhaps built during the Middle Assyian period	v86
^aprn1	Decorative stonework on the BA temple side of the Mittani revetment wall.	v122
^bdr1	Lines of stones arranged north to south to the west of the floors of ^sa1 and which serve as the western boundary to the Mittani westward retrenchment sacral area.	v139

Deposits

^a1	Early Dynastic III accumulations atop the outside (western most and southern most) stones of the first escarpment ^esc1 and floor f288. It is ashy and contains a lot of pottery. It differs from accumulations above ^a2 in that they are more reddish, perhaps being the result of run-off from the second escarpment, ^esc2. Presumably it results from the use of the f288 floor between the building of the two escarpments.	v217
^a2	Early Dynastic III accumulations atop deposit ^a1, and the inside stones of ^esc1. It is reddish and contains a layer (f278) of small pebbles and sherds. It may be the reminants of the seceond escarpment, ^esc2, or the result of its use and deterioration	v217

Functional areas

Sacral Borders

^sb1	The combination of the EDIII revetment wall, ^wall2; its two escarpments, ^esc1 and ^esc2; and its glacis, f185. Its purpose was to clearly delimit the border between the sacral area (the BA temple and its mound) from the assembly areas and structures to the south and to the west.	v223
^sb2	The combination of the Mittani revetment wall, ^wall3; and its apron, ^aprn1. Its purpose was to clearly delimit the border between the sacral area (the BA temple and its mound) from the assembly areas to the west during the westward retrenchment.	v123

Sacral Areas

^sa1

The Mittani staircase, ^strc1; ^bin1; the floors to the west, f70 and f102; and its western border stones, ^brdr1. Its purpose was to provide a transitional area for sacral use - an interface between the lay participants and those who conducted the rituals.

v123

Unit Book J5J5 Synthetic View / Typology / Built Environment