J6

The Eastern End of the Plaza and the Betili (Version 1a)

J6 Synthetic View / Typology / Built Environment

Loose materials in Unit J6

Patrizia Camatta – September 2011, April 2025

Loose materials are accumulations and fills bounded by structures and installations. They fill a defined space or cover these structures. The definition and explanation of this concept can be found in the grammar. In J6 we have accumulations, fills of pits, dumps, the collapse of stones and the collapse of one or several mudbrick structures.

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Accumulations

The structures and installations we discovered in J6 were covered by accumulations. The first 2m are windblown soil accumulations with stones collapsed from the structures of the Temple Terrace. The area is abondoned.
The second type of accumulation is the soil that gathered through the Plaza during the Mittani period, in a short period of time, when the Temple Terrace, the Plaza and the houses to the south of the Plaza were intensively used and the soil grew faster (for this topic see Plaza in Unit J1). The accumulations during this period are interrupted by floors, structures and installations. See layering or gradual build-up for a description of the accumulations in terms of emplacement.
During the Third Millennium the Plaza was kept cleaner. We encounter in J6 south of the eastern staircase flank wall a sereis of floors covered by thin accumulations.
All of these soil accumulations are of human origin and are the result of natural processes. Soil was transported from far away by the wind. During our excavations, we documented several sandstorm. Sandstorms must have occurred in ancient times too, even though the climate in the region was different to how it is today. There was much more vegetation and it was less dry, but sandstorms still occurred (Deckers et al. 2010).

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Ash

Ash1 is a this lens of loose light to dark grey burnt soil found unter the brickfall. It damaged the glacis.

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Fills

The pits we found east of the staircase wall were possibly storage pits, trash pits or ritual pits. Their function remains uncertain. The fill of a8 and pit2 contained a lot of trash and the soil was loose and ashy. The fill of a1 was a loose soil with few pottery sherds and broken bricks.

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Dumps

We recorded two two dumps: the first in time sequence is a dump of loose red soil with a massive presence of early EDIII sherds, kiln waste, tannur f200. It was discarded on top of wall f227. The dump is one of the first activities found in J6.
The second dump occurs much later in time sequence. It is a middle Mittani event which was recorded in all the area east of the staircase. Dump1 is a loose soil with a massive presence of pottery sherds and small stones with few large stones. It seems to be a discard of material, possibly to level the area after the brickfall.

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Collapse

Several stones collapsed from the Revetment Wall, when the area was abandoned. The stones were found all directly south of the wall and are f212, f263, f254, f245, f244, f225, f224.

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The great brickfall

The brickfall was firstly recorded in the eastern section of the trench (C2-A79 see Bianchi et. Al. 2014, Beilage 7). It appeared to be a 1, 1.5m thick layer of melted and complete disorganized bricks. The brickfall covered the southern half portion of Units J6 and J2. The source of the brickfall has to be searched to the southeast of J6. It must have been one large building which collapsed and transported a rich amount of ceramics and artefacts. The pottery analyzed within was Mittani.

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