Journal / Summary:D-9-2005-Summary

Final Trench Summary

Area D, Trench 9

Kenan Tepe 2004

July 25, 2004

M. Eppihimer

On July 4, 2004, a new six by four meter trench (D9) was begun in area D with the goal of reaching Ubaid levels that might correspond to those of the house in the adjacent trench, D5. The trench is located to the east of D5, sharing a southern baulk line. The west boundary of D9 is the same line as the east boundary of D5, but D9 is only six meters long, whereas D5 extends to ten meters. Because of their close proximity and a desire to obtain as much exposure as possible, a 30 cm baulk was kept between the two trenches. Towards the end of the season, the southernmost part of this baulk was removed (see below).

At the start of excavation, the trench sloped downhill to the E considerably with up to 1.7 meters difference. Locus 1 removed a significant amount of soil from the western part of the trench in an effort to begin to level the trench and to come closer to the levels that were of interest. Once we had reached an appropriate level, we divided the trench into two halves. The western half (Locus 2) consisted of fill, whereas the eastern half (Locus 3) was a mix of fill and topsoil/sub-topsoil. At this point in time, the eastern boundary of the trench had not been set. Both loci 2 and 3 were dug as 25-30 cm arbitrary levels.

The eastern baulk of D5 provided a useful guide for the next stage of the excavation. Where a thin, sloping line of pebbles and yellowish green soil in the baulk rose to the bottom of Locus 3, we extended an east-west line as a divide. The area to the north (Locus 4) was composed of mudbrick debris. The area to the south (Locus 9) was also bricky, as viewed in the baulk, but nothing could be defined. Another divide (a split between mudbricks) in the D5 baulk separated Locus 9 from Locus 5 to the south. An arc of orange bricks in the southwest corner of Locus 5 provided the first indication of the oven that would become the focus of the season. These three loci (4, 5, 9) were restricted to the western half of the trench, as the eastern part was still mixed with topsoil (Locus 6). This would be the case for the rest of the season, with the eastern boundary of the trench remaining in sub-topsoil.

In the northwest part of the trench, we concentrated on finding and tracing the two sloping pebble layers visible in the D5 baulk. Unfortunately, we had little success. We worked with the hypothesis that, although in the baulk they sloped down to the north, they also sloped downhill to the east, considering the shape of the tepe. The first layer was cut through during the removal of Locus 4. A patch of the second layer (Locus 17) was later located and did slope down to the northeast as expected. Perhaps it continues beneath the elevation of the area at the end of the season. In between the two layers was a large, sloping area of erosional fill (Locus 13) that extended into D5.  This area was initially Locus 12, but the number was abandoned when it was accidentally extended too far to the east and became mixed with topsoil.

The west central part of the trench offered only a mysterious circle of loose brown soil with bricky material inside (Locus 19). Digging from the east in towards the circle through an ashy soil (Locus 18), the area did not appear to have any substantial identity, leading to the conclusion that the circle was an animal burrow. However, after sweeping this area towards the end of the season, the circle remained and its insides were still hard and bricklike (Locus 29).  

The rest of the season’s work concentrated on the oven in the southwest corner of the trench and its associated features and surfaces. The excavation of the oven was divided into three operations: 1) clearing the ashy soil inside the oven, 2) determining the nature of the oven construction, and 3) examining the surfaces and fill that surrounded the oven. With the arc of orange bricks as a starting point, an oval perimeter of mudbrick was traced and the ashy soil within the mudbricks was removed (Locus 7). At about 25 cm deep, a change in soil from gray ash to a mottled ash and orange/brown soil with carbon and burnt brick pieces was noted (Locus 8). As the soil was removed, the interior surface of the burnt brick walls of the oven appeared. At a depth of about 0.5 meters, the tops of four bricks laying flat inside the oven and a mudbrick shelf around the interior walls were found. Beneath these was a layer of dark ash that rested atop a packed mud floor (Locus 30) that sloped downhill east to west.

Once we reached the end of the ash in the oven, we began to take down the walls of the oven by keeping a 0.5 m-wide ring around them (Locus 10/22). At first, we were able to identify an occasional mudbrick, but more often we observed mud packed against the burnt oven walls. As they were removed, the shape of the oven expanded into a circle (1.4 m diameter) that extended into the SE corner of D5 (Locus 20). In section, it resembled a beehive. The bottom of the oven walls sat on redeposited virgin soil (Locus 32).

The third operation regarding the oven was to examine the soil to the north and east of the oven. Beneath the larger mudbrick/mudbrick debris area of Locus 5 around the oven (which was popped off from the D5 baulk where possible) was a thin ash layer resting upon a packed earth surface (Locus 11). This surface ran directly up to the walls of the oven on its north and northeast sides (but not southeast), indicating some association with it. The surface was removed as a 3 cm thick HAP sample, which required a 50 by 50 total collection sample, a 2 liter soil sample, and sieving of the rest of the soil. Below this surface was a layer of mudbricks (no courses or rows were definable) (Locus 14) sitting upon a second ash layer (Locus 16). Like the L11 packed earth surface, Locus 16 did not appear in the southeast, which remained full of mudbricks/mud (Locus 15). Beneath Locus 16 was muddy fill (Locus 21).   

Because of its excellent state of preservation (walls approx. 0.8 m high), we developed the hypothesis that the oven was cut into something or well-protected by mudbrick or mud packing. Both situations are likely. A patch of Ubaid pebble surface (Locus 31) that was excavated in D5 (L5194) was cut by the oven construction. The mudbricks of Locus 14, however, were packed around the oven, perhaps as a leveling platform with its packed earth surface (L11) associated with the oven’s use. Regarding the sequence of the oven’s construction and use, it is not clear if the lower ash layer (L16) is associated with the oven. If it is, then it marks a first phase of use, after which the area was leveled using mudbricks (L14) for a second phase (and second ash layer). The pottery from inside the oven was Late Chalcolithic. The pottery from loci 11, 14, 16, and 21 that have been read contain few diagnostic sherds, with only L16 having one painted Ubaid sherd that cannot date the locus.

The contemporary local village ovens provide an ethnographic parallel for the oven construction. They are thin walled, beehive shaped ceramic ovens that are surrounded with cinderblocks and mud packing. The opening at the top is smaller than the general diameter of the oven and is slanted. A small stoking hole rests upon ground level. No stoking hole was found in the D9 oven; if one existed, it might remain in the portion of the oven extending into the south baulk.

The last feature of note in the trench is a 5 cm thick layer of orange mudbricks sloping downhill NW to SE (Locus 28) with a 1 to 2 cm thick layer of ash underneath (Locus 27). This was excavated by popping off the mudbrick layer to reveal the ash layer. The ash layer extended for more than 2.5 meters N-S. By the end of the season, its eastern extent had yet to be determined. No link was uncovered to definitively connect these elements to the oven construction.

Before closing down the trench, the area was swept to define new loci for the rest of the trench, including Loci 23, 24, and 25, three areas of fill in the north part of the trench and Locus 26, an area of fill in the SW corner around the area where the oven was.

The southern baulk of the trench, which contains a section through the oven, was drawn on July 24, 2004.

Small Finds

With so few closed contexts, most of the small finds from this season are not contextualized. A pot disk (KT D.9.20.4), a clay token (?) (KT D.9.20.11), and two pieces of burnt clay that may have been packed against a pot (KT D.9.20.12) came from the inside of the oven. From the topsoil and subtopsoil: two andiron fragments (KT D.9.1.2, D.9.1.5), a ceramic spindle whorl (KT D.9.1.6), an animal figurine (KT D.9.4.9), a crucible fragment (KT D.9.6.12).