1. To better understand the stratigraphy in the central city.
2. To complete the chronological sequence of ceramics types.

3. To do a pilot study of archeobotanical material collected by flotation.

4. To begin a systematic collection of faunal material in stratified contexts.

Immediately east of the Jewish cemetery are T21 (3m x 7m) and T21A (3m x 4m). The soundings reached bedrock at approximately 3 meters below the surface. There are three distinct levels of construction consisting of stone walls and mud walls lined with plaster. At the lowest level, there were also cooking pits and cesspits, one of the latter being stone lined.

Trench 22 is a 3m x 5m extension of trench 9 of the 1992 season. Four distinct levels have been observed. In the upper level, several pits filled with sand were excavated down to the level of stone pavements approximately one meter below the surface. Two mud walls and two stone walls are associated with this level. Beneath the stone pavement, in the southeastern sector of the trench, were a series of strata including lime, packed mud, reddish rubble and ash. One of these was a packed mud/lime plaster base of a storage jar in it. A mud brick wall is associated with this level. The third level, from 140 to 240 cm. below the surface in the southern sector of the trench, consists of a mud/mud brick wall which cuts through several strata of ash and reddish gravel (possibly natural soil used for construction). The lowest level, from 180 to 280 cm. below surface in the northwestern sector of the trench, are several floor levels. Associated with this level is a stone lined cesspool, excavated down to a level of approximately 3 meters but not finished.

Trench 23 is a 3m x 4m sounding approximately 100 meters north of the Jewish cemetery. It is within an area defined by sand covered walls/structures on all four sides. A hard packed mud floor and associated stone exposed at approximately 15 cm below the surface.

Trench 24 is a 2m x 5m sounding approximately mid-way between Trench 21and Trench 22. A stone pavement and a mud floor were revealed at approximately 1.1 meters below the surface; those features were separated by a mud wall. Three localized sandpits approximately .75 meters in diameter and approximately one meter deep extend down to the level of the stone pavement. Fragments of plaster architectural decoration were found above the plaster floor in the northern part of the sounding. A second possible mud floor level was exposed approximately 30 cm below the stone and plaster floors. The end of the season did not permit the team to reach bedrock.

Over 28,000 shards of pottery were excavated of which 6,800 are diagnostic. A new, preliminary typology for Sijilmasa pottery was developed by Dr. Nancy Banco. The major categories are:

1. Form: Cooking vessels (marmites), forms 10 - 19 Large heavy forms (may include basins, jars, etc.), forms 20 - 29 Jars, forms 30 - 59 Plates and bowls, forms 60 -79 Lamps, forms 70 - 79 Bases, forms 80 - 99 Handles, forms 100 - 109 Spouts, Lids, Strainers, forms 110 - 119

2. Decoration: Glazed decoration, forms 120 - 149 Painted decoration, forms 150 - 154 Slipped decoration, forms 155 -159 Incised decoration, forms 160 - 164 Combed decoration, forms 165 – 169 Impressed decoration, forms 170 174 Applique decoration, forms 178 – 178 Burnished decoration, form 179.

3. Paste Composition: Cream Wares, Coarse Wares, Very Coarse Wares, Vegetable Inclusions

Thirty-four soil samples, two liters each, were taken from selected, stratified deposits (ash pits, cesspits, trash pits). Botanical material was separated by a flotation process. The samples have been analyzed by Nancy Mahoney at Arizona State University. The overwhelming number of carbonized grape pips in this portion of the site suggests that some specialized activity was occurring in this sector. The pattern of deposition suggests that the area was not necessarily a storage area, but a physical space where grapes/grape products were prepared or consumed on a large scale during successive phases of occupation. Further research may confirm that economic specialization and/or differentiation of food resources can be detected in the physical layout of Sijilmasa.

Ten pieces of charcoal, sufficient in size for carbon 14 analysis, were collected from well-defined archaeological contexts. They have been sent to Betal Analytic Laboratory in Miami, Florida for carbon 14 dating. Five of the ten samples indicate levels of occupation that predate the Almoravids, i.e. the period of independent city-state status.

Two hundred and forty-two bags (105 kilos) of bones were collected from as many stratified deposits. The bags have been tied and labeled by provenience unit and stored at the Center for Alaouite Studies in Rissani. They will be available for analysis by a faunal expert during the forthcoming season.

Excavations in the southern part of the "Central Area" seem to confirm that this is primarily a residential area. There is an abundance of common utility and cooking wares, several ash/cooking pits and what now have been interpreted as food storage pits. In T21, T22 and T24 of this season, as well as in T9 of the 1992 season, are localized sand pits approximately .75 meters in diameter and 1 meter deep, the upper limit being flush with ground/floor level. Some of these pits were lined with straw and one was lined with mud/plaster. In one of the pits in T9, a large storage jar was found. Similar storage facilities were used until recently in nearby villages and are still in limited use among nomads to keep food and liquid cool.

The area north of the Jewish cemetery, an area defined by sand covered walls/structures on all four sides, appears to have had only one relatively recent phase of occupation. T23 of the 1993 season and T19 of the 1992 season are both within this area, and both reached bedrock at a depth of 35 to 40 cm. This seems to suggest that during the medieval period, there was an area between two heavily occupied areas that was unoccupied.

A preliminary, impressionistic survey of ceramics types for this season suggests that there are few, if any, ceramics from the period before the eleventh century. If that is indeed the case, then the pre eleventh century city must have been very small indeed. Conversely, the arrival of the Almoravid dynasty in the middle of the eleventh century saw a virtual "explosion" in the size of the city.