12th
Investigating a monumental wall
We spent most of our time on site today investigating the large chunk of mud brickwork which first aroused our interest in the site when we visited it in 1990. It is shown in the photograph of Jeff with Sabri Abdel Aziz in the first update for this season, and has clearly articulated mud bricks on its eastern exposed side, though this is not the original face of the wall, but is within its original core.
The brickwork we were investigating today.
The wall has openings in which beams of wood may have originally been inserted and, every few courses of bricks, there are the remains of reed matting – both features would suggest that the brickwork is part of a large monumental structure, though its exact nature, and date, are yet to be defined.
Remains of reed matting between brick courses.
We cleaned down the brickwork below its apparent ‘base’ to see if it continued down into the mound on which it is standing, and it is still preserved for at least another metre. We had hoped to be able to find its foundation level and check for any datable sherds in the fill in which it is founded but since this is going to be much deeper, it would require real excavation, for which we do not have a permit this year.
Patricia investigating the brickwork below its apparent current base-line.
While we were working today a local farmer wandered over and said that in the time of his grandfather the tell had been much higher but had then been greatly reduced in depth by farmers digging out the nutrient rich black mud of which ancient bricks were made to spread on their fields as fertilizer. This confirms what we had suspected since field-walking over the tell has shown that some areas have clearly visible intact archaeological deposits, with house and room plans showing on the surface, while others have been reduced to a lower level with distinct low mounds of debris such as red bricks and sherds, left behind by those digging out the mud brick remains. The mud brick mounds and large chunks such as the one we were investigating today indicate the original height of the whole mound before modern times.
View of the site from the east, showing the high mounds with mud brick remains which indicate the original height of the tell before most of it was reduced to the low level in the foreground by farmers digging out the nutrient-rich bricks to use as fertlizer.
