.bk J06
.fl S714pC.j
.fd daily journal and strategy for R714, R715
.rd S714
.ri pC
.ed S714
.fn edited S727 by cJC

-sg Yesterday we spoke about the strategy for J6 whith fAB and all J6 staff. 

-sy the markers in J6 are: for k85 m3834, m3835 in the North, m4719 in the Sout-West corner. The marker in the Sout-Eastern corner was not taken from bPW, being the locus trapeziodal and the corners not straight. In k75 are m4720, m3838 in the North corners, m3813, m4721 in the Southern corners. In k65 the markers are: the northern m4722, m4723, the southern are m3816, m4724. Other makers are in k84, m3820, m3830, in k74 m4717, m3833, k64 m3817, m4301.

k 85
dy k85 was relayed because it is not a regualr locus but is trapezoidal. Today we excavated f4, which is a natural accumulation with stones >10cm, few pottery sherds. It is soft when picked and fine in texture; in the southern area is more hard and aKarim exposed a part of it. We took the elevation and we decided to change feature number, since the surface expands in all the locus. The new feature is f6, which at the top elevation I defined mud: this surface is irregular and has few pottery sherds and some stones (>5cm). This surface has been photographed (v6 and v6a) and relayed (4 points in the limits of the feature, which corrisponds to the limit of k85: r2, r3, r4, r5). The difference between the feature above, f4, can be seen in section, where f4 is more soft, instead f6 is more compact, fine in texture and clean from pottery sherds. This feature at different levels is characterized by more compact surface, due to the exposure to water. hQ has been looked to the sherds in k85 and her first impression is that there is no interesting sherd, instead in k74 there are more interesting sherds.

f 6
ds this is a natural accumulation, characterized by a fine texture and is soft when picked. At the top elevation was hard and the surface irregular, due to the exposure to water. Few pottery sherds were found, and there are phytoliths in the matrix. This feature continued to be the same natural accumulation until the bottom elevation.

k 75
ds k75 is a 5x5 m regular square, defined by the markers m4717, m3833, m4720, m3838, m3813, m4721, m3816, m4722, m3817
dy today we begin to excavate in this square, beginning whith the top soil f5 q4: it has dark organic bands, roots and stones of 10-20cm, and lot of pottery sherds. After a pick run we changed feature in f7, which is a natural accumulation, characterized by the presence of roots, stones and lot of pottery: hB has beeen looking at them and she found very interesting: they are mixed up, but there are Khabur and Mittani. We should find very high Mittani, so we look already from the top features

-sg In J6 we should find very high Mittani and khabur levels: therefore hB looks to the pottery from the very top elevation. 

.rd s714
.ed S715
-sg today we discussed with fAB, gB and all the J6 staff about the strategy for the area and the next steps we have to take. First the aim of this season in J6 is to find the wall, possibly running East-West; its western end is visible in J2, south of wall J2f129 (a wall with North-South direction, which abuts the staircase J2, and dated as the staircase to phase h23/ED III). This wall should continue to the East in J6 in k84 and should be the continuation of the revetment wall. There are 4 possibilities: 1) there is a platform to the East of the staircase, which is its southern boundary and ends to the east with another staircase. In this case J6 will expand to the East and J4 is the northern part of the platform. This would explain the reason why we found so high structures in J4 dated to Mittani. 2) The wall continues to the North-East and then towards North; in this case the excavation of J6 will expand to the North, and east to J4. 3)The revetment wall is zig zag in shape. In this case we will expand south. This zig zag solution would explain the presence of architecture east of the staircase and the end of the wall tourning south would make a boundary to the sacral area of the terrace and the non-sacral area where are houses. In J6 we have to pay attention to pottery transition also horizontally: it could be that mittani abuts khabur at the same level. We will look for ephemeral Mittani structures.

.rd S715
-dy Today we continue excavating in k85 and in k75. We keep f6 because is still the same accumulation. In k74 we keep also the same feature as yesterday f7, but after a pick run i decided to change, being the clay more clean, fine in texture as f6 in k85 at the same elevation. 
-dy today I stayed home at 11 a.m. during one hour to write the daily journal. 

k 85
dy Today we continue excavating in k85 and in k75. We keep f6 because is still the same accumulation. Then i decided to change the feature number, not because we see a change in the feature, but because we went down for at least 40 cm with the same feature. f8 is very similar to f6, but is darker in color and is more wet. It is characterized by the presence of patches of harder and softer soil, due to the exposure to water. We changed feature in f12, which is the same clay, fine in texture, but has a platy structure when picked. aKarim exposed a small area with the small pick: this feature has a lot of phytoliths and some ashes. This was probably exposed to water and was compacted naturally. Tomorrow we will expose more this area but I don' t give too much importance, because it seems natural: the clay is very clean and with few pottery sherds.

k 75
dy In k75 we keep also the same feature as yesterday f7 (hB: sherds mixed Khabur-mittani), but after a pick run i decided to change, being the clay more clean, fine in texture as f6 in k85 at the same elevation. f9 is the same as f6 in k85: it is fine in texture, hard when picked. There are a lot of pottery sherds. We found one Mittani painted sherd. sMuhammad exposed an area where the surface is harder and has a lot of stones (5cm) and sherds embedded, liyng flat: this is probably due to the presence of water flowing to this area, and probably is not due to human presence. I decided to relay and photograph this area and to give a new feature, f10: f10 sits in f9 and expands in the southern area of k75 and goes toward south in k76. I decided to finish excavating in k74 and move the workmen in k65. 

k 65
ds k65 is a 5x5 m regular locus, defined by the markers m3871, m4301, m4295, m4722, m4723, m3816, m4724, m4718
dy we begin excavating the topsoil f11, which has a lot of roots, dark organic band and stones. after removing the topsoil has been exposed a burnt area in the South-west corner. Tomorrow we will relay it and give a new feature number. It is very recent, being under the top soil. 

-wk in k85 aKarim works as a pickmen and fHessu is the Shovel, Masood the Wheelbarrow. In k75 sKhalaf and sMuhammad are the pickmen, sAl-abrash and Habib are the showel and rMahmood the wheelbarrow. The same team works in k65, which was opened on S715 after breackfast.

-sf For the first days all J6 staff is present in the field, except for dH, who stays at home for half of the day working on the excavation computers.