Unit J6 structures

Patrizia Camatta – August 2010, April 2025

TEXT TO BE WRITTEN

Overview

The Temple Terrace and Plaza have been extensively exposed in J6, J2, J3, J1, J5, B6. For a comprehensive description of the whole structure see Area BT and Area JP. In this section, the structural elements described in emplacement are analyzed within a typological and functional analysis of the architecture.
See Structures for an explanation of this term in the grammar.

Walls

The walls found in J6 can be structurally and functionally defined as:
1. Staircase flank wall.
2. Retaining wall.
3. Courtain walls.
4. Memory stones.
5. Walls of unclear function.

The staircase flank wall and the retaining wall are part of a larger structure, mainly the Temple Terrace, which extends east-west for about 70 meters during the Third Millennium, built in function of the Temple on the top of the Temple Terrace. These walls define an open space to the south and east, differently used over the time. During the centuries this open space changed its morphology and function (see also deposition).

Retaining wall

^wall12 is the eastern portion of the third millennium terrace wall delimiting to the south the temple terrace BT. We were not able to uncover the whole wall in J6 but for following reason I define it a retaining wall:
- The wall is about 2m wide and 3.25m high.
- The wall is in section slighly convex to the outside and solidly built.
- The wall is protected in the lower courses by the ^glacis8 and ^glacis9.
- A mudbrick structure covering a portion of the mound was exposed immediatly north of J6 in Unit B6 and J2. The mudbrick structure recorded in Unit B6 as B6 Inst 26 (Bianchi et al. 2014 [to be added in MEL - ZJ416 pC], 91 and Beilage 1) and in unit J2 as J2f74 is delimited and retained to the south by ^wall12. The wall takes the pressure of the mudbrick structure and releas it into the ground.

The wall has in some extent also the function of revetment wall marking the edge of the terrace mound fronting the plaza. A wider function of the wall is of a temenos, limiting and enclosing the sacred space. More about this issue can be found in the book BT Temple Terrace

A second retaining wall is ^wall11. The wall is exposed for the first two courses and only for a small segment, but certainly dated before the Early EDIII period. It runs at about 4 meters parallel to ^wall12, following the same direction. The function of the wall is:
- To frame ^glacis9 to the north.
- To the south are layied ^glacis3 and ^glacis6, therefore we have to see the glacis also related to this wall.
- To make a boundary to the south where the Plaza is.

Staircase flank wall

The monumental staircase is flanked to its western and eastern sides by walls. Wall6 runs all along the eastern side of the staircase. For the western staircase wall see wall J2f127.
Wall6 is built on top of the slope of the earlier mound (v242) and therefore it does not have the same height for all its length. The lower half eastern face of the wall, even if is very regular, was not visible. A series of thick layers named glacis were laied to the backside, protecting the wall face from erosion. The topmost course of the wall memory stones is a later construction phase of the wall.
The function of the walls is:
- to define the staircase as a sacred space where people ascended from the plaza to the terrace.
- to protect the side of the staircase from erosion.
- ^wall6 retains the substurcture above the staircase is built (unknown construction, possibly mudbricks).
- The two betili f100 and f177 mark the beginning of the wall and of the staircase. The buttress in the southwestern end is also part of the entrance to the staircase.

Courtain walls

Stone walls of 1-3 courses high and only one stone wide were found all over the JP area, in the plaza during the Second Millennium (dated by layers covering it). The function of these walls was to block debris rising in the plaza, so that the Temple Terrace structures (staircase and walls) would not be covered. We found similar walls also in J6. The definition “courtain wall” is due to the function of framing and block something.
1. f299 (^wall15) is the earliest courtain wall in terms of deposition. Is embedded in ^glacis6, and probaly part of it.
2. f201 (^wall10) is a row of stones with East-West orientation. This wall was built to create a boundary between ^wall12 to the north and the Plaza to the south, where the level was growing rapidly. The wall is built on top of glacis1 and in a second phase the stones are reused as base for the bin.
3. Wall f152 (^wall4) is the eastern part of a wall with NW-SE orientation located in unit J2 and Trench B6 (see emplacement - stone walls).

Memory stones

We refer to “Memory Stones” as a series of stone walls located on top of the third millennium walls throughout the Temple Terrace in all Area JP. These walls are the last construction phase of the Temple Terrace during the Mittani Period. “Memory” because they remember the outlines of the third millennium structures when they get to be covered from accumulations. We believe that the earlier walls were still visible when the “memory stones” were placed, as they follow the exact outlines of the earlier walls. These walls are one or two stones high and often rest on top of a thick layer of mortar or debris separating the lower Third Millennium structures. See also deposition - construction phases.

In J6 wall f127 represents the last construction phase of wall wall6. The stones of f127 are larger and there is a thick layer of mortar is between the latest course of wall wall6, which can be seen in the drawing of the cross section through the staircase.

Walls of unclear function

In J6 we began to find several mudbrick walls and few stone walls belonging to unclear structures, not part of the Temple Terrace, of which their outlines have not yet been excavated. These walls are:
- f76
- f144
- f166
- f84

Glacis

A series of glacis were found to the south of wall f227 and to the east of wall f129. Their characteristic is a strong inclination to the south, south-east. Their different coloration, soil consistency and inclusions are due to the source of the soil. These layers were deliberately placed to protect the eastern face of the f129 wall from water damage and erosion. They follow the slope of the underlying layers. The f129 wall is also built on a slope. The definition glacis for these layers was the better to define the function.

The bin

A structure with a half moon plan a7 covered an area of about 30m2 just east of wall f127. Similar structures were found in units J5 and BA and had storage purposes. The bin was excavated within unit J4 and here you can find the typological and functional analysis of the structure.