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2008-7-13 | pC |
k84 is a locus already excavated in J4 in season 2005 and in season 2004 as J2. It is a half square being excavated in J4 for the southern half as k84 and the northern half as k100 together with k83. k84 was excavated until the elevation 9150@. The features in k84 in J4 were J4 f87 for the top soil, J4 f88 for the accumulation under top soil.
[Input file: S707PC.J / S707PC.-J]
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2008-7-13 | pC |
today we begin removing the first 50 cm from the west baulk in k84, left by the J4 excavation 2006. This baulk is important because it is showing the eastern side of the trench excavated by the german team in season 2000. We want do draw all the section: the first 2 meters will be drawn from k84 and the rest, once collapsed this first part of the baulk, will be drawn from J2 k100 to the west ( k200). After removing the 50 cm hB, eA, hB, dH draw the section. The section shows the top soil and the accumulation for 1m. It is clean from pottery and stones (very few). In J4 f88 we have already Khabur pottery
[Input file: S707PC.J / S707PC.-J]
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2008-7-19 | pC |
Today we removed the West baulk, which is f1: it has all features of k84 (see J4) and therefore has no stratigraphic importance.
[Input file: S719PC.J / S719PC.-J]
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2008-7-21 | pC |
Today i decided to move Su'ar in k84 and begin excavating here: being the removing of the dirt difficult from the top of the baulk, i decided to remove the east baulk of k84 (which is a half baulk, partly removed in season 2004 as J4), which is f34.
[Input file: S721PC.J / S721PC.-J]
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2008-7-21 | pC |
k84 was excavated in season 2006: it was separated in two loci: k84 North and k84 South. The southern part was left higher and the Northern part was dig together with k83 south; from this two half squares we made a new square J4 k100 which was a deep sounding into the temple mound.
[Input file: S721PC.J / S721PC.-J]
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2008-7-22 | pC |
Today we removed the first 10 cm of soil: I consider it as a topsoil, being exposed for two years. This feature is f32, which is very dusty and has few pottery. after the first pick run Su'ar found f38, which is the same of f37 in k85: it is limited only in the South-East part of the square. in the North West part there is a surface of brick melt: it is f41 and some bricks are visible. I decided first to excavate f41 and then f38. In season 2006, when k84 was excavated as J4 locus, was not found this feature: this means that it did not extend in the northern part, where it was excavated deeper.
[Input file: S722PC.J / S722PC.-J]
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2008-7-23 | pC |
we removed f38 which is the same feature as f37: has a lot of pebbles, sherds and bones. Once removed it was very similar to f41, which instead had melted bricks. f38 was soft and dusty and had a lot of sherds. After removing it, we went down for 30 cm; Su'ar looked in the South section of k84 and found a nice compacted surface; he removed the layer above f45 and exposed f46: f46 is a highly compacted floor surface, with some sherds laying flat (a khabur painted sherd was just above it); atop f45 was a seal i1: we relayed it, took pictures and stopped excavating.
[Input file: S723PC.J / S723PC.-J]
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2008-7-24 | pC |
today we removed the floor surface f46, which was found the day before. It was very compact and hard to remove and came out in big chunks, and once removed we found a lot of pieces of bricks and brick melt. This surface covered another compact surface with bricks and some ashes and few carbons: this is f52, which is the beginning of the brickfall at elevation of 9023@ top. I decided to remove the first 10 cm of this, to see if under this there is a structure. It continue to be bricks and the surface was full of bricks located in different direction, building any kind of organized surface. I decided to change feature, being this different in quantity of brick, and more clearly a brickfall. It is f53, and is characterized by a slope going to North and at least 10 bricks of different dimensions and color (mostly are red, but there are also grey bricks). We took views of this surface v28 and relayed it. we went down for two other pick runs and the brickfall continued. This means that we are above a kind of a mudbrick structure that collapsed. The pottery is all mixed, some khabur, mittani, phase 23 sherds.
[Input file: S725PC.J / S725PC.-J]
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2008-7-26 | pC |
Today in the early morning I looked in the section to check if the brickfall slopes; it is clear that the surface is flat, and Su'ar probably excavated for mistake as a slope. We continued removing the brickfall f53 which is still full of bricks but building any coherent shape, as a wall. hB analyzed the pottery coming from f53 and it is Phase 33. Before breakfast fAB came to see the brickfall and he looked in section showing us that there are some bricks with mortar in between. Also the brickfall is much more full of bricks than before. We have the feeling that we are reaching a sructure. I decided to change feature number, relay it and photograph, which is v29. The new feature is f55: fAB suggested to dig in a trench large 50 cm and long 2m along the West section, going down for 30 cm: in this way we should see a wall from the section. We proceeded like this but we found only the end of the brickfall after 20 cm. Under it there is a mud surface, hard and sloping south. This remembers me to J4 f121 in J4 k100, which is also sloping South and was orange-brown. We did not remove it and today we did not expose it all.
[Input file: S725PC.J / S725PC.-J]
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2008-7-28 | pC |
Today we finished removing the brickfall f55: it is full of red and grey unbaked bricks, crumbly and is hard when picked, it has not much pottery; After removing it, we found a hard surface which is sloping towards South-West f63. This is an indication that there is a boundary to the west that stopps the slope. This slope could be a glacis which covers the ancient mound of the temple terrace and was covered by this glacis to protect it; it probably ends aganist the wall f130. this situation reminds me to J3, were a series of glacis were uncovered: they are the coating of the temple mound, finishing in behind the revetment wall (J3 f150 is the glacis). We covered the glacis and we started removing the western baulk. I decided to excavate it stratigraphically, following the accumulations which are f66 and then the floor f46 which in the baulk is f67. this floor was relayed and then removed together with the brickfall. The brickfall coveres wall f127, which is the memory stones of the wall f129. In the baulk was found a jar stopper i2
[Input file: S728PC.J / S728PC.-J]
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2008-7-29 | pC |
Today we finished removing the West baulk of k84, which is f69: it is the brickfall, same as f55, and it covered partly wall f127, the memory stones of f129. The brickfall covered also the glacis f63, slopeing towards South-West and has a hard surface with some small calcite pebbles. It is very similar to the late mud glacis in J3.
[Input file: S729PC.J / S729PC.-J]
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2008-8-2 | pC |
today was removed a small piece of the western baulk f69, which was left over to keep the stones of f127: today we decided to remove it because the stones are not in danger to fall down. Removing this piece of brickfall f69, was clear that the glacis f63 ends on the lower stones of f127. Probably the glacis continued also for some cm to the west, because it seems cut by the trench k200: this part was excavated as a trench by the german team of Tübingen; it runs Sud-North (see introduction to J6 and MDOG 134 2002 for more information). In the Eastern section of k200 is possible to see the continuation of the glacis to the south: the indication is that on top of this presumed slope seen in section sits the brickfall ^b f2. Under this line the stratigraphy changes drastically.
[Input file: S802PC.J / S802PC.-J]
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2008-8-6 | pC |
today we removed the northern part of the East baulk of k84, which is f108
[Input file: S806PC.J / S806PC.-J]
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2008-8-16 | pC |
today we removed the glacis f63, which has a very hard surface but when removed was platy in structure and reddish in color. It is the same as f107 in k74. Under f63 we found f132, which is another glacis, probably the grey one same as f110 in k85. We decided to remove part of the backfill in k84 North, which is J4 k100: this was a deep sounding made in 2006 in J4: we decided to remove part of the backfill to see the limits of the sounding and to see better the East section: the first feature we see in section is J4 f150, which was a red accumulation sloping sharply towards South. It is very important because we will find the same feature to the South in k84. It is also one of the reasons to belive that there is the wall f130 in k84 and it falls into the South baulk of J4 k100 which is now the North baulk of k84.
[Input file: S816PC.J / S816PC.-J]
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2008-8-17 | cVP |
After diggin the "glacis" f132 down the NW corner, it dissapear showing a strip of pebble floor running NS-SW, not even a meter wide, called f140. This also disappear so the NW corner of the square is filled by a soft brown soil called f141. Cutting the glacis and also a part of the pebble floor, an elongated pit filled with ashy soil has been found. The cut is not very deep, some 15 cm, and the bottom is also brown soil. In its interior the ashy filling contained one sealing, a piece of inlaid and a small miniature vessel
[Input file: S817CVP.J / S817CVP.-J]
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2008-8-18 | cVP |
After cleaning all the surface of our area in this square is seen more clearly the dark spot that would be the continuation of the ashy layer f142 in this square. Of course it is just visible in the strip of earth left as a baulk after south of the deep sounding J04.
[Input file: S817CVP.J / S817CVP.-J]
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2008-8-18 | cVP |
Today we clean eveything and make photos of the pebble floor f140, as we are going to remove it. The photos also relate this floor with the one on k85, f135.
[Input file: S817CVP.J / S817CVP.-J]
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2008-8-19 | cVP |
First in the morning we clean and photo the situation of the ashy layer f142 in relation with the upper brown one f141. Then we dig f141 trying to find the grey in the SW of the square. We identify the edges of f142 as a round area (maybe a dump?), that we relay and photograph, and later excavate almost completely.
[Input file: S819PC.J / S819PC.-J]
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2008-8-21 | cVP |
Still excavating f151. We draw the North section. Tomorrow the workers will come to remove the backfill in k83 so that next Saturday we will be able to remove this N baulk.
[Input file: S824CVP.J / S824CVP.-J]
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2008-8-23 | cVP |
We remove first the North baulk, and then we began to remove the upper part of the East baulk. For the Noeth baulk the workers had already removed the bakfill of k83 (J4) Saturday afternoon, so we have some meter and a half of freed North baulk to dig. We gave one feature number for the baulk but we differentiate the samples coming from the ash shallow pit ( f142), 2 q-lots, and one q-item (a bead). We leave the baulk at the level were the backfill still remains. The East baulk we dig by feature, even if considering the upper part, until the first pebble floor, as one feature number, f156, with the first two glacis. The remains of the pebble floor that in k84 we called f140 here we called f157. We clean it, make a photo, and the surveyors relay it. The brown soil is f160, equal to f151 in k84.
[Input file: S824CVP.J / S824CVP.-J]
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2008-8-24 | cVP |
We begin excavating f161. And then we have to give up work because of the weather and come back to the office to work in the UGR.
[Input file: S824CVP.J / S824CVP.-J]
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2008-8-25 | cVP |
Still digging the E baulk. Now the reddish accumulation is considered another feature, f162, and the more red underneath f164. At the beginning of f164 a big stone is found in the north border of the baulk, precisely also under the earth left that supports the stones of f101. It seems to be the wall that we were looking for, the equivalent of f130 from the German trench. Once we reach in the E baulk the level left at the rest of k84 we stop the digging of the baulk and began to work again inside the square. We also draw the small North baulk and take photos.
[Input file: S825CVP.J / S825CVP.-J]
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2008-8-25 | pC |
removed the West baulk following the stratigraphy: the top feature is the glacis f156, same as f63; underneath we found a floor surface f157, characterized by a compact surface and many sherds lying flat: probably is the same as f135 in k85 and f140 in k84; under it were only natural accumulations f160, until we get to a red-brownish layer more wet and compact, which is f164: this layer is the same as J4 f150 and is a intensive red-orange bricky layer, with sharp boundaries on the upper and lower part. There are some ashy thin layers and all f164 is sloping South-East. we found it also in k84 and we give the same feature number. f164 was covering a stone f163, which is a nice smooth stone and seems in its originary position embedded in f164. f164 was difficult to find, because the accumulation above it, same as f151, is very wet and similar in consistence to f164; therefore we missed part of it, expecially while excavating f151 in k84. We looked in the north section and was clear that we cut the first 15 cm of it. We decided to dig a trench in the eastern part of the square to see it from the section. f164 slopes towasrd South and stops in the northern part of k84. In the East section of J4k f150 (same as f164) is 1 meter thick and slopes sharply South, and were is this sharp slope it became thinner and then disappears in k84. This layer is probably a kind of fill or escarpment located east to the wall f129 in order to protect it and it abuts it (we do not see this contact, but it is obvious that f164 starts on the eastern side of f129). The pottery analyzed from f164 was mostly phase h33 with some sherds phase h23
[Input file: S826PC.J / S826PC.-J]
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2008-8-26 | pC |
Today we removed f101, which is a concentration of stones in front of the wall f130. Before removing it, there were only 3 stones visible, but when we removed the west baulk of k84, came out other stones belonging to the same feature. f101 is not floating stones but is a wall consisting in 13 stones of different dimensions and quality, which join to each other; we decided to make 3 q-items for 3 stones (stone f101.2, f101.3, f101.4) q276.1, q276.2, q276.3, because this stones were very smooth in one side. We decided to remove f101 because we were removing the west baulk of k84, and doing this we saw that this stones were a kind of 'memory stones' of the wall f130 and covered it. To understand if the wall f130 continues to the East and what kind of construction is, we had to remove f101. Was also useful to date f101 and to understand that is a mittani wall (the pottery between the stones was mixed but mostly mittani). Under the stone f101.9 we fond a nice stone Early Dynastic II seal i17 ( v102). we removed the stones with the help of Mohammed Omo and of the crane. some of the stones were partly broken and therefore when they collapsed they broke up in many pieces. We decided to have two different feature number for the pottery: f170 is the pottery found between the stones, and which dates wall f101, instead the pottery found in front of it belongs to a mixture of features and is f169. in front of stone f101.13 there is a floor surface f171 ( v108) Once removed all the stones of f101, we found two stones, probably not belonging to f101, therefore we decided to leave them and check tomorrow. One of theese stones is oblique and has a white bluish color. The other stone is layed flat and is in front of f130. Could probably belong to a structure South of the wall f130, to which belongs also the oblique stone f100.
[Input file: S826PC.J / S826PC.-J]
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2008-8-27 | pC |
Today we first removed f176, which is the remaining part of the accumulation under the stones f101 in the west baulk of k84. We then expose f171, a floor in front of stones f177 and f100, which abuts them; it is located at 8851@top. We found a bronze pin i19 and a bronze spatula i21 in this floor. We remove it all to expose all the stones in front of wall f130 and to expose the floor surface f183. f183 was covered by f174, which is a brown reddish accumulation, mixed with f164, which gives an orange coloration to the feature. f183 is a compact surface sloping south with some sherds lying flat and was found just under f174. We expose it exerywhere in k84. While removing f174 in front of wall f130, we found directly on the stone a bronze nail i20. To expose the East face of wall f130 we decided to cut back the west section of k84. We remove it in feature: first we removed the brickfall f179, then we exposed f180, which is the same as J4 f121. at the top elevation of f180, was found a thin layer of ash, which slopes toward South, following the slope of f180. We then removed f181, the top of the equal to J4 f150. It is reddish and has patches of the orange of f164. It has two top elevations: the Western is 5 cm higher then the eastern part. Under it we removed f164, the reddish orange fill aganist wall f129, dated to phase h33 by the pottery. We decided to make a small trench in front of stone f177 and f100 in order to expose as much as possible of the two oblique stones. This trench is k102
[Input file: S826PC.J / S826PC.-J]
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2009-8-10 | pC |
Today I put Hussein and Massuud in k84 removing the natural accumulation f266 which covers the gray brown feature under glacis f164 and also covers a sherd floor which was found in front of obelisks f184 ( v114). This accumulation was thinner in the center of the square and in the northen part was not found but only the gray brownish layer under f164 which is f280. At first I thought f280 was the escarpment before f164 but while scraping it with gB and fAB we could say that it is too loose and sandy to be an escarpment but rather an accumulation.
[Input file: T810PC.J / T810PC.-J]
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2009-8-10 | pC |
Today was finished to remove natural accumulation f266 and under it was found floor f271 which is the same as f184. f271 is a nice floor with sherds liyng flat and while removing it with the small pick was found another surface very similar to the upper one but with fewer sherds. I give one feature number to all this floor even if has many different layers, but while the soil is all sandy and has the same characteristics I keep the same feature number.
[Input file: T810PC.J / T810PC.-J]
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2009-8-12 | pC |
Today we removed all the floor f273 and under it was exposed a nice sherd pavement (is it the same as the german excavation C2-Inst.879-880?). It is located in the southern portion of k84 and goes against the obelisks f100 and f177. It is mostly composed by sherds and some pebbles (>5 cm) and the soil is sandy garysh. On the surface are visible some bones. It stops at the level of the wall f130 and overlays f280, which slopes toward south. Today we were not able do take a nice view of the pavement and therefore we covered it with plastic and moved in k105.
[Input file: T810PC.J / T810PC.-J]
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2009-8-13 | pC |
f277 was all removed to collect all pottery. mKB looked at the sherds in the field and could tell us that was mixed with some painted sherds. This floor is under the level of f164, therefore should be third millennium. After removing f177 we decided with gB and fAB to go down only in front of the obelisks. The new locus is k106
[Input file: T810PC2.J / T810PC2.-J]
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