Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (4.1992(1993))

successive floor levels, also partly plastered. All the pottery
collected from the floors was of Early Dynastic period. It seems
that after a certain period of use the room was abandoned and its
interior intentionally filled with bricks and stones. This led me
to suppose that the "narrower" segment of*the big wall with the
adjoining locus 4/A may represent an earlier phase of the rampart
while the wider segment should represent a later stage. The older
fragment was incorporated into the later construction and then, to
make it wider and stronger, locus 4/A was abandoned and filled
with bricks. It seems that the fortifications of the III"* millenium
B.C. settlement at Tell Selenkahiye were rebuilt in a similar way
and probably at a similar time.^ In trench A-2 yet another room
was found (locus 5/A). It was adjacent to the inner side of the
later rampart segment and was evidently later than locus 4/A.
Only a part of it measuring 2.2 x 1.8 m was excavated during the
present season and its filling contained numerous fragments of
wall plaster. Some of the fragments could have belonged to some
sort of inner arches.
Trench A-3 has not yielded any interesting results as yet.
Situated in the highest part of Tell Rad Shaqrah, it contained
numerous modem graves sunk to the depth of about 1.5 m. They
were so tightly packed that they destroyed the ancient strata in the
upper part of the trench almost entirely. Only at the end of the
season was the top of an undisturbed III"* millenium B.C. layer
reached.

^ cf M. N. van Loon, 1974 and 1975 Preliminary Results of the
Excavations at Selenkahiye near Meskene, vol.44, 1979, pp. 97-112.

124