Figures:
1192-1035 North profile
1192-1035 West profile

Excavations began by clearing a surface that was largely unvegetated. Small sherd fragments and pebbles were lightly distributed through the top five cm. Just beneath the UPL the surface appeared somewhat mottled, with apparent mud brick fragments, sherds, and some darker areas.

Stratum I was removed largely intact but included some materials from Stratum II (Figure N profile). The sloping strata in this unit were recognized within the first 15 cm of excavation, however, and most of the sediments were removed in sedimentary units that correspond to the strata depicted in Figure x. Stratum I is a silty sand with abundant decomposing ceramics in the upper levels – typical UPL. It was generally horizontally bedded and the boundary with Stratum II is clear but wavy and irregular.

Stratum II is a massive layer of sandy silt with faint parallel striations. It contains many large sherds lying flat on this surface and aligned on their long axes parallel with the bedding planes and in association with what appear to be small mud brick fragments and flecks of charcoal. Strata IIa, IIb, IIc, and IId are lenses and are very similar to Stratum II but are slightly blacker – apparently because of greater charcoal concentrations.

Stratum III is also silty sand but slightly darker than Stratum II. It also contains large sherd and mud brick fragments. Stratum IIIa is a lens of silty sand, slightly lighter brown in color than either II or III. It contains numerous sherds and charcoal flecks. Stratum IV is much like Stratum II, though the boundary with III and IIIa is quite distinct and smooth and wavy like that between Strata I and II. Stratum IVa is distinguished from IV by its lighter color and is a thin lens conformable with Stratum V below it. Stratum V is distinguished from the strata above it mainly by a greater number of mud brick fragments. Stratum VI is a massive concentration of sherds in a fine silt or clay matrix mixed with abundant charcoal and mud brick fragments. In some areas the sherds are horizontally bedded, but elsewhere they are jumbled in a manner that may suggest rapid deposition.

Stratum VII is a fairly clean sandy silt with few large sherds and occasional small bits of charcoal, brick pieces, and sherds. It is massive with no apparent stratification but darkens somewhat toward the bottom as charcoal concentrations increase. The upper surface of Stratum VII is wavy and irregular indicating an unconformity with the overlying Stratum VI [Buck, 1990 #249]:276). Below is Stratum VIII, a massive sherd concentration within a sand matrix. Sherds of all size are common as is burned and unburned bone.

In summary, Strata II, IIa-d, III, IV, and V reflect periods of continuous dumping of household debris but with changes in the manner of deposition. Stratum VI, for example, represented a short period of concentrated dumping of large quantities of sherds and other debris, whereas Stratum VII seems to reflect a slow accumulation of materials notable for the low density of ceramics and other preserved remains. Stratum VIII, however, derives from another episode of massive sherd dumping.

The sloping strata of this unit probably reflect a typical Middle Eastern architectural history, with a small settlement in the middle of the mound as the original occupation, but then periods of rebuilding in which old buildings and other debris were leveled off and pushed over the sides of the slightly higher community center. Stratum VIII may represent the first of such rebuilding periods, with Stratum VI reflecting another. The other periods may have been similar periods of deposition and releveling, but of deposits that contained fewer ceramics. These deposits of ceramics, it should be noted, were not isolated, so that they appeared in the balk but not in the rest of the unit; these layers of sherds covered most of the area of the 2-meter excavation unit.