| Entry: | The past two days have predominately been spent removing material from wall F.5058. At this early stage work was begun in the areas where a mortar line was visible in the section of the wall, in order to trace the top level of a brick layer by removing the mortar and mud-brick material above it. Mortar lines where visible in the area south of buttress F.3301 and in a small section of wall F.3351 left standing last season. Although the wall material from this specific section does not actually belong to wall F.5058 it was excavated as a part of U.16873 (mud-brick of F.5058) because the possibility of understanding corner of both walls was higher when including this area, and because of excavation convenience, as this small part of wall F.3351 is substantially higher than the rest forming one level with wall F.5058.
Material was removed over the whole southern extent of the wall up to a second artificial height difference just north of buttress F.3301, including a large block of mud-brick also left standing near the corner to wall F.3351. In the northern part the layer of bricks, ca. 1.5 layers lower, was easily defined as in the previous excavations of B.106. A double row of slabs, similar in size to those found in wall F.2427, was located with the exception of the space directly joining buttress F.3301 where thicker vertical mortar was applied and a small square-shaped brick, ca. 20x20cm, was placed. The situation further south proved more difficult because the entire surface area where the two walls F.5058 and F.3351 meet was covered by dust from this area as a walkway, and more unfortunately the corner was not only disrupted by animal burrows but also by late (Byzantine?) fill. It was not possible to satisfactorily separate the mud-brick material from this corner area from the later fill, mainly evident in the finding of a large tile fragment. For this reason, U.16873 is now considered a ‘contaminated’ unit despite the fact that the vast amount of soil removed did belong to the mud-brick architecture of wall F.5058 and therefore also the majority of the finds, which are, when considering a pottery assemblage comparison to the East Mound for example, important for the dating and procurement of building materials.
Today the remaining material of U.16873 was removed to expose the top of the brick layer. The corner situation with walls F.3351 and F.5058 was not yet clarified satisfactorily, mainly due to the fact that this particular layer of bricks was not constructed at all evenly and that the vertical mortar lines between the bricks are poorly preserved. The true nature of the corner will most likely be understood at a greater depth. From here on the southern and northern extents of mud-brick in wall F.5058 are called U.17276.
In the northern part of this ‘clean’ unit 1.5 layers of brick material were removed. The level was chosen based on two large slabs visible in the face-section of the wall. The removal was speedy as the upper layers of brick burst of the mortar easily. An artificial section was made in the small step close to buttress F.3301, which also cut into the back part of the buttress. Initial observations show that the bricks of the buttress bind into the wall making the features contemporaneous. When the remaining mortar layer is removed the top of the double row of brick will be visible, closing the gap between the southern part of wall F.5058 and wall F.2427, which already have exposed layers of brick. Despite the height differences in three areas, a continuous double row of bricks will be exposed and ready for analysis and documentation. |
