Excavation during this season was concentrated in Area H, where we opened four new operations. These are listed in order from SE to NW, as shown on the map at left.

Trench 3 Extension – A 10×10 meter eastern extension of Trench 3, which was opened in spring 2022

Trench 2 Extension – A 5×5 meter extension of Trench 2

Trenches 4+6 – A 10×10 eastern extension of Trench 4, opened spring 2022

Trench 5 – A new 10×10 meter trench opened to the west of Trench 6

Trench 3

A 10×10 meter extension of the spring season’s Trench 3 was opened in order to make clearer its stratigraphic connection with nearby Trench 2 and to gain a better understanding of the architecture and function of the building partially exposed during the previous season. The excavation revealed a continuous multi-phase sequence dating back from the Early Dynastic IIIB to the late Early Dynastic I.

The earliest phase so far uncovered, dating to the late ED I, comprises part of the same building excavated during the spring season immediately to the west. Seven rooms have been identified in the extension, including an open cooking space adjacent to a massive mud brick oven.

A smaller rectangular room on the western side, opening directly onto a courtyard that was excavated in the spring, yielded some of the most exciting finds from Trench 3 this season. On the plaster floor of this room were hundreds of ceramic bowls and beakers that seem to have fallen from shelves and benches along the eastern wall, many with their original content (food and drink, with plentiful animal bones and organic residue) still in situ.

Taken together, the massive oven, ancient refrigeration system, courtyard with benches, and large quantity of ready-to-eat food in conical beakers and bowls suggest that the building in Trench 3 was a public eatery serving the local neighborhood in the late ED I period.

Like Trenches 2 and 6, Trench 3 appears to have become a site for pottery production during the Early Dynastic IIIA, as indicated by the lower portions of two kilns located at the highest elevations within the trench.

Trench 6

Area H Trench 6 expanded and helped to clarify our understanding of Trench 4 (opened in spring 2022) in relation to the pottery production contexts of Trench 2. A sequence of four phases was identified, dating from the end of ED I to the ED IIIB.

The latest phase was represented by a series of pits and by three walls defining a central space. Below this was a phase of construction dated to the ED IIIA, in which a street was identified running horizontally across the north of the trench. In addition, two floors were defined between a series of walls that defined an interior courtyard space.

The street continued along the same axis in the third phase, here with a door providing access to a narrow alley. Four rooms were defined in this phase, including a courtyard with three benches. In another of these rooms was a unique deposit: a rectangular basin filled with pure red clay full of small freshwater mollusks. This type of clay was used especially for pottery, suggesting that this area accommodated seasonal work of soaking and refining clay in preparation for pottery manufacture.

The latest phase preserved in the area was documented by several drains, pits, and one grave. Among the pits was one which yielded a large number of inverted conical bowls. Two large vats, packed with potsherds and concrete sediment, were also identified in this surface layer, were also found in this surface layer. These seem to be installations for keeping foodstuffs or commodities cool.

The ED IIIB was attested in multiple phases in Trench 5. Within the ED IIIB phase, an additional grave of a child was found. Remains in phase 3 included an imposing building (the North-Eastern Building) with walls of plano-convex mudbricks. An interior floor in this phase preserved traces of a mat laid over the remains of a fish, as well as jar stoppers, animal bones, and potsherds piled against one wall. 

An earlier construction, designated the Main Building, was present in the late ED I to ED IIIA transitional phase. This structure likely fell into disrepair before the construction of the North-East Building, although the latter accommodated its plan to the ruins of the former. During the period of its use, the Main Building appears to have been residential, with plaster floors, a bench and platform, and objects including stone tools and vessels, flints, beads, clay jar stoppers, and tokens.

Four 2×3 meter test pits were placed across a fluvial feature visible on the surface of the site that suggested significant perennial flow, possibly a water channel. We wanted to characterize and date the channels, particularly to understand if they were contemporary with the Early Dynastic city. 

Pisé and mudbrick architecture of the ED period was found within a depth of two meters in every one of the test pits, clearly indicating that the water channel postdated the area’s Early Dynastic occupation. An inscribed clay nail of Enanatum I was also found embedded in a mudbrick floor in Test Pit 2.

UAV drone photography

The same DJI Phantom 4 RTK drone used in the 2021 (2LAP) and spring 2022 (3LAP) seasons was deployed again this season for site-level aerial photography. Flights in Area H after the recent rains, in particular, highlighted areas of differing soil color which give clues to the location of residential neighborhoods, ancient streets and walls, and possible courses of ancient waterways. Additionally, the drone was flown over the northern mound after a rainstorm. As in the south of the site, this area of over 130 hectares also revealed extensive networks of roads and structures.

During the Fall 2022 season, the LAP expanded its training offerings for Iraqi colleagues.  In addition to training our workmen in skills of excavation, we provided a three day training session for three colleagues from SBAH in Baghdad.  The training included an introduction to the site and to the goals of the project in the evening when they arrived.  During the first day of training, they participated in the surface survey designed and directed by Dr.Paul Zimmerman. The survey is designed to be registered on a GPS ipad which has the recording form in both English and Arabic. During the second day of training, the SBAH trainees participated in the excavations in Area H, and were trained in the recording process as well as drone photography for photogrammetry. Locally, Dr. Paul Zimmerman trained Mohammad M’Tasher in the processing of survey finds. Furthermore, Mohammad was trained in the programming, setting up, and use of the Total Station.

The LAP project provided funds for the local primary school to improve its facilities.  Thanks to these funds, the school’s courtyard was paved, a new pipe for running water was laid, and the bathrooms were given new roofs.