Kenan Tepe 2000
Area F Trench 4 Summary
Trench F4 began as a section cut on August 7, 2000. Area F is located on the lower mound
below the main mound of Kenan Tepe overlooking the Tigris River. The section F4 is located on the
eastern side of Area F on a steep slope of the mound.
We opened the section cut because surveys on that side of the mound revealed some pottery
sherds that could have been dated to the Late Chalcolithic which is much earlier than the sherds found
on the main mound of the tepe. We wanted to cut a straight section to see the stratigraphy of that area
for future trenches.
It is important to note that there are no elevations for the eight levels of the section.
The first day we dug the top soil in Level 1 and came upon an area of small pebbles and cobbles.
We changed bags and called it level 2. The cobbles extend about 1.4m from the west baulk and are
about .3m thick. Larger cobbles appear to be stacked onto smaller cobbles and pebbles. The cobbles
continue from the North baulk down the hill to the west baulk at about the same level so they were
probably not washed down by erosion. There was only one bag of pottery for this level and no bone or
lithic material. This same cobble surface can be found in trench F1 at almost the same level. The
function of this cobble surface is vague. Some people have thought it was a gully or road leading to the
river but it is difficult to tell without opening a wider trench at the top of the mound.
We moved below the cobbles and at Level 4 and 5 we found lots of pottery and ash which may
indicated an oven area. In Level 5 the NW corner had a particularly high concentration of ash.
Levels 6-7 were a very hard surface of light grey clay/silt. It was so tightly compacted that it
took the workers ages to get through it. When they picked it, it came off in jagged chunks. Its not easily
troweled so its hard to get the surface straight enough to see brick lines. Because it is so low in the
stratigraphy (about 2.5m below the north baulk) it could be some extremely compacted mudbrick tumble
and will be referred to as such.
In Level 8 the soil was still hard but we found an ashy section at the NW corner where we came
upon an almost complete Uruk pot (KT #4027) with a very fine sandy soil inside it (KT #4028). The pot
indicated we might be in a Late Chalcolithic level so we stopped picking and began a trench to further
investigate.
We named the whole trench Locus 4000 and began digging at the NW corner where we found the pot
because the section indicated there might be an oven surface. We changed locus to L4001 in the area
where there was some soft ashy soil mixed with the very hard mudbrick tumble. There was some
splintered bone, burnt clay and some dark ash spots on a flat surface. When looking at the baulk wall we
saw a layer of orange clay followed by the hard mudbrick tumble. The surface at L4001 is closed by the
hard soil so we called it a closed sub floor surface and assumed that the context was good. This context
is where we found the Uruk pot (KT#4027). We brushed it clean and leveled it with the rest of the
trench.
While digging L4002 which took up the area between L4001 and L4003 we came upon what seemed
like another surface at the NE corner. We peeled back the top layer of mudbrick tumble and found a
light grey compacted soil with scattered bits of wood ash, splintered bone and some pottery. This
surface was very similar to L4001. As we peeled back further we found a line of orange clay around the
grey surface. We changed locus to L4004 and began to articulate the new feature eventually we
uncovered a large cooking pit/oven which is approximately 2m long x 1.5m wide. The oven wall
(L4009) is about 2m long and .25 m at its widest. It is made of one row of 10-11 hard packed orange
clayey bricks. The surface within the oven went through several phases from compacted ash surface
(L4004) to softer ashy surface (L4005) to a thick layer of very soft ash (L4007). Locus 4007 is the main
bulk of oven material and it yielded the most finds. We found a high concentration of splintered bone
that is still being analyzed, some pottery, shells, several spindle whirls, and lithics. One of the best finds
was a well preserved stone tool (KT 4088) which we photographed and measured in situ. Within L4007
was a layer of black ash which we called L4008. The material in this locus was very delicate so we only
had two KT numbers, KT4069 for all the soil including burnt bones, and KT4073 for the one piece of
burnt pottery found.
When we hit some harder soil in L4007 we changed locus to L4012. The soil is a mixture between soft
ash and hard clayey soil. The hard clayey soil is probably tumble from the oven wall. At the NE corner
of L4012 we found an area of ash (L4013) that was extremely fine and soft. When the hard areas were
articulated we discovered that the ash continued under the oven wall.
Outside the oven we tried to find the surface that the oven was sitting on. After chopping down nearly
20cm we still hadn't found anything but the mudbrick tumble.
In the area formerly part of L4001 at the NW corner of the trench we found another layer of ash (L4011)
similar to the ash in the oven locus 4007 about .75m wide extending to the oven wall from the west
baulk. We never had a chance to excavate the area and find its relationship to the oven.
Future work at this trench should begin at the area outside the oven. The floor surface which the oven
sits on should be found and articulated. The ash area in L4011 should be dug and analyzed to see if it is
related to oven or if its a new oven surface.