2. Cilt - Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı

The earlier, M3 Phase 11, consisted of three small, independent, domesticstructures built against each other, their outer walls contiguous (Fig. 2). Wallsand some floors were thickly plastered, and, for the most part, without stonefoundations. Temporal relations between the structures were obscured notonly by the pipe balk, which could not be excavated, but by heavy stonefoundations (165) cut into the central house’s back wall at some point. Thestones may have reinforced the south building against the ground slope; ifso, the central building was by then no longer standing, since a plaster linefor the missing south wall of its court (163) was still visible. Throughout thisphase, traces of burning were observed on top of brickwork, and on bricksaccumulated in room corners (168, 169), but not inside the rooms or on theirwall faces. The entire area was thus subjected to a fire, but only after itsbuildings had been abandoned, and reduced to wall stumps.This level was followed by M3’s phase 10 (Fig. 5); its layout conformedto underlying architecture without replicating it exactly. A hearth with acobbled skirt (156) occupied the corner of room 149, a choice of location forfireplaces common also to M’s phase 12, although the two trenches were againnot synchronized 5 .Room contexts in M and M3 were cleaned out before the buildings werevacated, and rooms had few identifying features. A small ceramic repertoire,from fills, nonetheless provided a consistent EB II (mid-third millenniumB.C.) attribution to the levels and the fortifications associated with them. Finecream-colored cups, chaff-tempered bowls with a glossy red slip, and redgritty coarse wares were typical. The occasional Transcaucasian sherd atteststo outside contacts. Lithics were rare - as in all periods at Kinet - but didinclude a Canaanite blade with remarkable sickle sheen. Another curiositywas the impression of a disk-shaped item (diam = 12.5 cm.) on a burnt brick,from the central court in OP. M’s phase 13.OP. M’s upper level of housing (Phase 12) was eventually filled in andsealed by a broad mudbrick platform or wall (Phase 11), running N-S eastof the “pipe balk.” This earliest of four superposed brick constructions datesto the final stage of EB II (three later versions were excavated in 2006 and2005) 6 . Width and alignment indicate they represent defense walls that shiftedeastward as the mound rose.5 Brick sizes in the two trenches were also different, although brick sizes for the walls of thesevarious buildings were not standardized in any case. The exception is M’s phase 12 (57 x 37 x10 cm. throughout).6 Gates 2008: 282-285.355