Journal / Summary:F-1-2001-Summary

F1 FINAL TRENCH SUMMARY 2001

Trench Introduction

F1 is a trench located in the far south side of area F in the archaeology dig of Kenan Tepe. It is bordered to the north by trench F9, which lies directly north, but about 25 meters away. On the southeast, on the side of the hill, lies F4. F4 and F1 are only about 5 meters away from each other in true distance from the inside of one trench to the other.

F1 is the continuation of a trench that was excavated last year. It is a 5x5m trench. Because it was a continuation of last year's trench the dimensions of the trench expanded because of the necessity to cut baulks straight to begin the season. Trench dimensions thus ended up being 4.56 meters north to south and 4.18 meters east to west, instead of the customary 4x4.

Initial trench measurements at the start of the season gave us opening elevations of 65.53m all the way down to 65.19m. Most of the trench opened at about 65.40, give or take a couple of centimeters. Final top plan measurements indicate that most of the trench closes at about 64.50 meters, with the pit in the southeast of the trench going down to the lowest elevation of 64.16m. As can be seen, we have gone down about one meter in this trench this summer.

This trench was dug this summer for a couple of reasons. First, all indications from last year were that there was at least one and possibly two burials which we were on the verge of uncovering. We wanted to find the context for these burials and remove them. Second, this trench acts as one piece in the puzzle that is area F. The addition of new information from F1 certainly will help everyone understand better the workings of area F. Since this trench is the lowest trench on the top of the hillside, it may also act as a window into the future of trenches such as F8, F2, and F7, trenches which still have some digging to do to get down to the level of F1.

EXCAVATION SUMMARY

We began the year on July 14, 2001 by dividing the trench into three topsoil loci. We did this because we believed that there were probably two burials in the trench just underneath the topsoil. Thus L1018 was a topsoil locus, and L1019 and L1020 were topsoil loci where we expected burials underneath the topsoil. Concerning the burials, we did run into the burial underneath L1019, a burial which we named L1021. The second burial never really appeared. We found some human skull bones near the south baulk, but a locus designed to dig further down and find the burial (L1022) failed to find any more bones. We can only assume that if the burial is complete that it continues into the baulk, although the bone fragments of the skull we found were by no means complete. These bones were KT#1091. No other human bones were found in this locus, although we did find some lithics which were categorized as small finds (KT#1094, KT#1095, and KT#1096.)

The burial L1021, on the other hand, was probably the most exciting part of the trench this year. Not only were we able to find the burial but we were also able to find some very impressive small finds which are related to the burial and which may help identify the time period of the burial. The burial, as we found it, was in very poor condition because it was left uncovered after the previous year. This meant that many of the bones which had been left on the surface were severely damaged, while many of the bones underneath the surface were closer to their original position. I do not think that I could accurately describe the burial, although I would urge the reader to view the numerous photos of the burial. Several important small finds were found in relation to this burial. Near the foot of the burial was found a complete, unbroken, small pot, 3cm in diameter and 2cm high with dirt inside (KT#1087). Also found near the same area was a thin long stone, 12cm long, 6cm across, and 2cm wide which may have been used for digging. This was found very close to the pot. Then, as we excavated and articulated the burial we found a complete pottery jug cradled in the left arm of the burial (KT#1118). These were the major finds of this locus, other than the actual burial. Actual excavation of the burial ran over several days, as we thought the burial had ended when it did not because of the way the topsoil had messed up the preservation of the burial. All KT#s which are human bone and which come from L1021 are part of this burial. In conclusion, this burial was incredible, especially for the well preserved items which we found which are part of the burial.

Also in this same stratagraphic layer were a small pit which contained nothing which cut into L1018 near the northeast corner (L1023). Next to the burial we made a new locus (L1024), which was a locus because of its location, as it was separated from the rest of the trench by the burial.

On the eastern half of the trench we began to see ash lines, which we took to believe we were perhaps on the verge of finding an oven or pit. We named locus L1025 because it looked as though it was becoming different from the rest of the trench, possibly becoming an oven, and it looked as though the ash may have been bordering it. Around this same time we divided the original fill locus L1018 into two pieces L1026 and L1027, which were also merely fill loci. L1027 bounded L1025 on the north side, while L1028, another fill locus, bounded L1025 on the south side. Later on, while spraying down this L1025, we found a small wall of one row and one course, about 11 bricks, which extended down the south side of L1025. We made this locus L1029. This wall at first we believed may have been an oven wall, but this was later shown to be false by our determination that L1025 was not an oven, but the area right to the west of it, L1031, was in fact an oven. This locus L1031 was not bounded by the wall L1029, although it did have an oven wall L1035 which wrapped around 2 and a half sides of the oven. This square oven L1031 did not have a large number of artifacts in it. It is most notable for the way that it cut into L1033, a large pavement we will discuss shortly. L1031 was also closely to L1036 a semicircular pit which was either right next to the pit, or perhaps touching the pit and acting as a sluff off from the oven. Next to both of these features, to the west of them, we combined the remains of the burial L1021 and the loci next to it and made a new fill locus L1032.

All of these loci, from L1026 to L1032 were all basically on the same stratigraphic level. At this time it might be helpful to note that L1030 was a locus assigned to the east baulk, as some good diagnostic sherds were found during cleaning and straightening before the trench opened this year. Also on this same level were L1036, L1035, and L1034.

All of these loci were on the same level as a feature that literally dominated the trench for over a week. This feature was L1033, the large pavement. As we were analyzing the trench we could see what we felt was the beginning of a large mudbrick wall of alternating colors, one a reddish brown and the other a pinkish white. Further troweling, scraping, sweeping, and spraying led us to determine that this pavement was a large 2.80x2.90m structure, almost perfectly square with the exception of the side where the oven L1031 cut into it. We hoped that this was a wall for some time, but final analysis leave us to believe that it is in fact a large pavement, as it is only one course high. We learned this from our excavation of L1034. We decided that we would take a small section of L1034, about one meter long, down about 40-50 cm with the hope of getting a section of the pavement to see if we could understand it better. As we were digging this section with a big pick we began to pull up copious amounts of dark black ash on the pick.
We stopped using a big pick and took this area down to the top of the black ash. The section that we had dug showed that the pavement was only one course, and also that the black ash appeared to go underneath the pavement, 25cm under, showing that it was only a pavement and not a wall. When we finally decided to knock out this pavement we first took a spider shot of the entire trench, a helpful tool.

The black ashy surface which was underneath L1034 was named L1037. This black ashy layer eventually came to cover the entire trench as a new stratigraphic layer, with different loci on about the same level. These will be discussed after a brief explication of the work done to reach the black ashy layer underneath the pavement. We determined that the brick pavement appeared to be placed on a surface. As we removed the bricks by popping them off of this surface it became apparent that it was a crusty burned white clay surface with black splotches (L1040). Also similar in composition, but closer to the east baulk and slightly lower in stratigraphy was another crusty surface (L1042). There were also fill layers which were excavated to get to the black ashy layer (L1041, L1044), and the black ashy layer itself underneath the pavement (L1043). After we had removed the fill loci down to the level of the black ashy surface, everything in the trench was covered in ash with the notable exceptions of L1039, an area in the southwest corner which appeared to be a much lighter color than the ash, and L1038, a general fill area which was most notable for the lack of anything exciting.

While sweeping the black ashy layer we noticed that a circular area appeared in the trench because of the softness of the area on the inside of the circle. Further examination revealed an oven (L1045). This oven was mostly underneath the former pavement, and like the rest of the trench acts as a good context because it is sealed. In this oven was a large pedestal, possible pottery stand, made up of mudbrick 64x30x9cm (KT#1246) which we were unable to remove without breaking. This may have been a pottery stand, whatever the case it is very well documented with photos and descriptions. This oven only went down 10cm before it abruptly ended, both the bricks and the ashy layer of dirt. The fill underneath was L1054.

Outside of the oven we were having a difficult time seeing anything because of the dark ash which could not be swept, so we assigned three cleaning loci to the entire trench, with the exception of the oven L1045 and a pit which we had found touching the south baulk which we gave L1046. This locus L1046 is most notable for ending as the lowest part of the trench this year, as we dug down until we hit a surface of cobbles which may be a surface, or merely the pit bottom. Anyway, these cleaning loci were designed to scrape the top layer of ash off of the trench (L1047, L1048, and L1049). After this cleaning we reassigned loci to the trench, the eastern half was harder than the rest of the trench and so it was a separate locus (L1050) while the other half of the trench was split into about half and one side contained L1039 and new locus L1051, while the other half contained L1052 and L1053.

Our final mission of the season was to remove all of the black ash and get down to a new level, a job which resulted in a new fill locus L1055, as well as the possibility for much more next year.

The finds in this trench, at least the small finds, were few and far in between after the burial and before the mudbrick. Probably the best thing about this trench though, in relation to finds, is that because of the large pavement everything is sealed. In addition, anything below the black ashy layer of doom will be sealed by that.

INTERPRETATION AND STATE OF THE TRENCH AS IT IS LEFT

My trench is a very difficult trench to interpret. One thing that seems to be sure is that it does not appear to be a domestic area, but instead may be a work area. One theory being espoused is that the whole F area, at least at the level where I am digging, is a large industrial area, whereas the domestic areas of the tepe are located in other areas. Indeed, soundings in G and H may show occupation at about the same levels that I have been digging this season. This theory is also confirmed by the existence of the oven in F1, the large ash deposits here in this trench as well as the large amounts of ash in F9, a trench at similar levels as my trench. In addition, the large oven in F4 would also generate huge amounts of heat, making living near the oven undesirable. So far we have seen no indication of domestic settlement near this area, although the pottery we see is from late Chalcolithic to early 3rd Millennium, which means that the pottery from area F is later than other areas. So, to summarize, it appears that my trench was never domestic, and at times was a work area, and at other times may have been a large sidewalk.

The trench ends in good shape. The following is some vital information for the continued success in this trench:

Last KT#: 1246

Last Locus: 1055

Baulk Drawn: East

I think that the eastern half of the trench may be a plaster floor. I also believe that in the west baulk, near the south side, there may be a new pit developing. The large pit and the large oven (L1046 and L1045) have both been completely excavated. At the bottom of the pit there may be a cobble surface, which would be something to shoot for next year, to get down to that level and see what is happening.

And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make--

The End