Intransite frame

Giorgio Buccellati – January 2008

The archaeological frame

Within the site we have created a series of constructs that provide a modern frame of reference for the excavations as a window onto the ancient physiognomy of the site.

Seen as an organic whole, the site emerges, before excavations, as a configuration of geo-physical features and it reveals imemdiate evidence of modern human activities. As the excavation progresses, the process of site formation comes to be progressively better understood. (For a different use of the term “frame,” used in a chronological sens, see under stratigraphy.)

The surveyor’s base plan provides the primary topographic grid and contour map to which everything on the site relates. Every point is thereby georeferenced to the world grid.

The topographic contours define given zones, which correspond to the current geographic reality of the tell, and may possibly reflect aspects of the ancient urban layout, atleast that of the latest phases of occupation.

Areas are typologically coherent aspects of the ancient architectural and urban realities, covering multiple strata and periods. These can obviously be identified only after they have been exposed thtough the excavations (hence they are not “arbitrary” in the way excavation units are).

Along with any evidence from surface materials (whether ceramic sherds or suggestions of architectural elements), the topographic contours help us define specific excavation units, which are by definition “arbitrary,” in the sense that we do not expect them to match, necessarily, the reality of the ancient urban layout. (The term “arbitrary” has a negative connotation, as in “whimsical,” which is inappropriate for our situation. What is meant is the purely volumetric choice of the boundaries within which the excavation takes place.) They are the basic operational units of the excavation, and correspond at the same time to the “digital books” that comprise the core of the Urkesh Global Record.

As if an appendix, I give breif overview of the Expedition House, which is built on the tell, and thus has become part of its landscape.

from GRAMMAR Constituent Labeling:

It consists of an alpha-numeric code which includes in turn two segments. Note that in this rank letters are always in upper case.

First segment

The first segment of the code for Rank 1 refers to either a topographic zone (for a list of areas in Mozan, see Fig. S3.4-1 below) or a type of analysis.

The letters between A and S are reserved for topographic zones, and are the only ones that are used to define constituents proper. In our system, the letter I is omitted because it is graphically confusing, and M is omitted because it may be used for “Mozan.” The letter O refers to the Outer City at Tell Mozan/Urkesh. (This particular feature may not pertain to other sites. However, it is in the logic of the system to reserve the area prefix O for Outer City, and to restrict the use of topographic zones to the prefixes A through S.) So every topographic zone in the Outer City includes always an initial O (this is the only instance where the code for zone contains two letters); zones in the Outer City approximately mirror the arrangement of zones on the High Mound. The letters S and OS are reserved for Special operations at any place on the High Mound or Outer City respectively. (For more details about Mozan see the Mozan sitewide digital book).

check for MCVv

It is a general practice to label operations either sequentially in the chronological order in which they are begun, or according to the grid. The sequence by topographical features as we have done in Tell Mozan seems preferable, because it provides for every single item or feature an immediate sense of orientation within the site as a whole, while avoiding the complexities of labels based on the geometrical grid.

Second segment

The second segment of the code for Rank 2 refers either to a subdivision of a topographic zone, i.e., an area, or to a subtype of analysis. For an area within a topographic zone, the code is numeric (from 1 to 99, see chapter 15.3) if it refers to an excavation unit seen purely as volumetric area, i.e., an area which is defined exclusively with reference to boundaries that match preset loci, e.g. A1. It is instead alphabetic if it refers to an area that has an architectural or functional integrity, e.g., AK.

Given the reliance on absolute coordinates for volumetric control, rather than on the grid conceived as a physical overlay in the ground, excavations units need not have predefined geometric shapes, and are generally quite asymmetrical. In fact, they may also overlap. Fig. S3.4-2 (below) represents the situation as it occurs in Area AK at Tell Mozan. Label AK refers to the overall area as defined functionally in terms of the architectural layout of the Royal Building. The other labels (A1, etc.) refer to purely volumetric entities defined operationally in terms of logistic needs and considerations. Thus A8 overlaps with A6 and A10 which were expanded at a given point to subsume what had originated as an independent operation.