Area D lies in the southern lower city. Excavations were carried here in order to explore the Iron Age levels, whose presence was hinted to by the surface pottery, which dated almost exclusively to this period. In the squares DpsII17-13 a sequence of 6 levels was brought to light, all presumably belonging to the same building. Among the six levels, the best known is Level 4, when the building had an extent which surely exceeded 20 x 25 m. Three functionally separated areas were recognized: 1) the southern zone consisted of several small storage rooms (one of the, L. 494, was a kitchen); 2) the central zone was occupied by a square courtyard, opening to the west on a flagstoned corridor, later covered by a mudbrick platform; 3) in the northern zone a room (L. 504) was used for food preparation. The building was possibly devoted to centralized storage activities. Conjecturably, Levels 5-6 date from the time immediately preceding the Assyrian conquest; the reconstruction phase represented by Level 4 belong to the first transformation under the Assyrian provincial power, and Levels 2-3 represent the last development during the full Assyrian occupation of the town. To the west of the excavated area (squares EcII17-18) a stratigraphic sounding was carried out, detecting a sequence of seven levels, with superimposed structures and interesting materials.
