Figure 22. Stone and soil removal – experimental; it proved very difficult to flip the stones over the top edge. 22-10-2015.
Figure 28. While stones were being removed, another part of the team began removing the soil using buckets and ropes. The strategy was to remove the thinner layers from the edges where bedrock was higher to isolate the deeper and thicker layer in the middle. This and the following 20 photographs show the soil ‘melt’ away until the final remnant is removed from the deeper center. 20-10-2015
Figure 38. Stratified sediment, 50 cm deep. 5-11-2015.
Figure 58. Removing sediment mound from this and earlier cleanouts south side of reservoir. 7-11-2015.
Figure 49. Soil is gone! 14-11-2015. Photo by Muaffaq Hazza.
Figure 3. North side and NW corner of reservoir in 1905 photograph. The “draughted masonry” is exposed where the ancient coat of thick plaster (called opus signinum by Butler) has fallen off. The “coping of flat and well fitted slabs” is visible on top of the wall in the segment on the right.
