In the West Settlement, my first task at the beginning of the season is to decide where to excavate next. We talk about it at the end of the previous season, and make some tentative plans, but I continue to think about it as I finish processing my notes and photographs. And then I always try to arrive back at Malqata with fresh eyes.
Consulting with Diana (left) and Jan (right)
Some of my priorities for this season are to continue to clarify the footprint of the site, and to see how it relates to other areas. On the east (local north), we are interested in seeing how the West Settlement connects to the Industrial Site where Diana is working. In order to explore the latter question, I am moving in that direction, but in 2.5 meter trenches rather than full 5 meter squares, since it is possible (in fact, likely) that we will be going through the wadi that has washed out any traces of the settlement to the north (see What Lies Beneath). We can't go too far to the east or we will hit the old Met spoil heaps, but we will go as far as we can.
Looking southeast down Trench P (backfilled) toward the current West Settlement excavations
To the west, we are interested in seeing if we can connect the current excavations to a series of partial foundations uncovered in "Trench P" by Barry Kemp a number of years ago. Dr. Kemp has been so kind as to share information from his forthcoming publication of this work, so we know that his walls line up with ours, and that that one of them continues the thicker wall (laid in headers rather than stretchers) that seems to serve as the boundary of the settlement.
Piet shoots in some new points on our North-South grid
Our surveyor, Piet Collet, has helped to lay out new squares to both the east and the west. We are stringing them up and getting to work, so stay tuned!
The West Settlement Team: (L to R) Ali Mohamed Ja'allan; Hassan Horagi Mohamed; Mohamed Abu-ez Mohamed; Sa'ad Tagi Ahmed (senior excavator); Ossama Mishra'i Megala; Ja'allan Mohamed Said (senior excavator); Khaled Hassan Khodari; Janice Kamrin; Mahmoud Mohamed Hassan (senior excavator)
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