Daily Trench Journal

Area D

Trench 8

June 21, 2005

B. Uzel

Today I temporarily took over excavation of this trench because E. Ogle was ill.

We began by excavating one of the cell rooms (L.100) in order to discover the rooms contents and to possibly find the floor surface associated with wall L.99. After removing 4-5cm we discovered that the entire area was covered w/ mudbricks. I believe that these bricks either used as the rooms floor or used as fill to bolster the structures foundation. This locus is now very similar in composition to L106.

We also cleaned all of L.106 and the entire area is filled with mudbricks packed with mud. The bricks are aligned regularly but do not form a wall feature. By clearing this locus we were able to articulate the bricks in order to than area photograph later in the day. We then began to remove the bricks to find the bottom of walls L.99. In the process of this work we found organic pseudomorphic material between brick courses. This residue is the remains of grain and a sample was taken. Beneath the mudbricks we uncovered a plaster surface.

In the southeastern half of the trench we encountered L.107 and L.108—currently fill loci. On the surface of L.105 were scattering of sherds and lithics which we initially though were an indication of a floor surface. We failed to find any surface though we did have some good ubaid sherds and a bone pin (KT _).

Finally we excavated L.103 and L.104 –more cell rooms, but we have yet to find anything in this interior. The southern wall of these cells needs to be fully articulated in order to properly see its articulation. We are currently unable to find clean brick lines and the positioning of the wall is unclear.