Daily Trench Journal

Area D

Trench 8

June 14, 2007

Recorder: Mila Hover (a.k.a. Melek hanim, MH)  
Workers: Mizbah, Nejat, Sadik

Work begins concurrently in L158, L148, L146, and L145. In L158, L146 and L148, dirt fill is taken off in 5cm increments. In L145, the area of the collapsed kiln, fill is removed by excavating carefully around the orange material in order to determine dimensions of the feature. The fill from inside will be excavated for contents in sections, i.e., NE, SE, SW, and NW.

Large quantities of slag is being collected from the vitrified mud brick, which is not a sign of metal production, but rather significant about the contents of the material used in the construction of the kiln/oven. The NE section yields pottery sherds and bone. Large pot sherds in this section lean against the mud brick wall located just north of the kiln (L144). This section will be removed horizontally, in order to enable us to better understand the depositional order of artifacts. Rim sherds from different vessels are found on top of the pile of sherds, as well as throughout. Also present are ground stone implements.

The surface bellow the melted kiln reveals ashy stains and burnt orange lumps of melted mud brick.

In L158, toward the south end of the locus, a stone gathering appeared. It consists of ground stone tools, fragments of ground stone tools, and unmodified rocks. Possible collapsed mud brick wall protrudes from the south trench baulk. Underneath it is an ash layer. The raised are measures 0.9m x 0.7m, h=0.06m. The wall-like formation measures 1.10m x 0.25m, h=0.15m. Its south edge is contained within the south baulk.

Note: L145, the ephemeral surface revealed in L139, adjacent to the west trench baulk, maybe the same surface where the melted kiln originates. Although very thin, it appears to be a continuous surface, connecting these loci.