Tell Kurdu Project

THE TELL KURDU PROJECT

fig.1. Assemblage of objects found in situ on the floor of a room

ANALYZING THE SETTLEMENT - UNDERSTANDING ITS INHABITANTS

The variety of architectural structures, streets and quarters we exposed provide a far more diverse dataset than expected. Not only are there vast differences in the types of structures across the site, but there is also much differentiation among what could be called various quarters of the neighborhood. One area yielded large houses with plastered walls, while another was comprised of small single roomed structures, possibly storage rooms, shops or simply less prominent residences. Moreover, some of the large buildings had exceptional ground plans; one of the structures was multi-roomed and tripartite in its layout, while adjacent structures were niched and buttressed in plan. This variability is significant and suggests considerable internal differentiation.

To determine the spatial and contextual nature of the various streets, courtyards and buildings we are using a number of different techniques of architectural analyses. Perhaps the most straightforward of these techniques is using in situ artifacts left in place when the room was abandoned. At Tell Kurdu, one room (click for photo), for example, was clearly a kitchen or food production area, with a large oven, at least four grinding stones of different sizes, two mudbrick platforms clearly used as work stations, an adjacent bin (probably for the placement of the ground products), a pot stand, and a large storage jar (fig.1). Another room with three large in situ vessels was clearly used for storage (click for photo). In addition, an outdoor area, perhaps a courtyard, yielded a concentration of spindle whorls and bone awls, suggesting that the area functioned as a craft production or work area. Like at most sites, in situ deposits at Tell Kurdu are rare and for most of the spaces, the abandonment refuse left behind in the rooms is the best way to infer the associated practices.

However, some rooms hardly have any artifacts that have been left behind probably because they were cleaned before they were abandoned. Without artifacts to suggest what these edifices may have been used for, it is often difficult to obtain insights on the social activities. This is why our careful excavation strategy involved collecting samples (click for photo) for three different micro-archaeological techniques, namely microartifact analysis (click for photo), soil chemistry (click for photo) and micromorphology. These techniques complement in situ finds and macroartifact distributions because they are more sensitive in detecting a finer range of activities and provide additional ways in reconstructing intra-site organization. They are also informative on the intensity of use of different spaces as well as the history and changes of room use. During the 2001 excavation season, over 300 microartifact samples, over 1000 chemical soil samples and 10 micromorphological samples were collected.

fig. 2 Students from MKU sorting microartifacts

(Click to enlarge)

fig. 3 Rana Ozbal conducting chemical analyses of soils

(Click to enlarge)

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Copyright © 2003 Ozbal & Gerritsen. All the photos, images and text on this site are subject to copyright laws. This material may be used for non-profit purposes only by citing Tell Kurdu Project as the source.