Daily Journal

Area D, Trench 9

July 13, 2004

M. Eppihimer

The day starts with 5 cm being removed from the brick area of Locus 5 – surrounding the oven. Also, a few more centimeters are bringing down Locus 4, but today we have an experienced digger looking for the 2nd pebble layer visible in the D5 baulk (since we cut through the 1st layer). He followed the soft soil sloping downhill until an analysis of D5 suggested that the area is a giant pit/erosion fill running across D9 through the NE corner of D5. Therefore we are halting this process in the northernmost part of the trench.

After 5 cm were removed from L5, we stopped and checked the E section with a sprayer and observed a surface – Nejat is currently removing the bricky soil above that surface.

After cleaning the area of L9, a line of pebbles associated with softer brown/white speckled soil was noticed running NW to SE. With the idea that this is the pebble layer we had been looking for, the guys are scraping back from this line to the NE. If so, the area in the SW would already be below the pebble layer. Further scraping of the area did not produce the desired/expected pebble continuation so we concluded that it may have been an animal hole.

The surface of L11, below L5 on the D5 baulk, which we started to expose on 12 July, is the same as that observed in the E section in D9 – they are the same L11 surface surrounding the oven. After removing the soft soil from the brick area of L10 and thinking about it and the D5 baulk, we have the following idea:

The oven, because of its extensive depth and state of preservation, was most likely sunk into the ground or some other construction. The mud bricks in the baluk of D5 are probably associated with the oven construction. The ash layer on top of the surface in the baulk was perhaps swept off during cleaning of L11 surface, but the surface is clearly associated with the ring of bricks around the oven. We tested this by popping off a piece of the floor and it revealed a brick at the edge of the oven construction. One check for this conclusion is to compare the pottery from L7 and L8 with that from L5 and L11, once it is removed. Lastly, beneath L11 in the D5 baulk are mudbricks – perhaps used to level the ground before the oven was set into them?

At the end of the day, much soil was removed in the east half of the trench – still a mix of topsoil and fill (L6). I tried to separate the erosion area in the NW corner (L12), but due to a mixup the KT’s from today (L12, KT 1-3) are mixed with topsoil. Tomorrow I will try to separate this loose brown soil with white inclusions and dig it as Locus 13.