The mudbricks were laid with mortar and were evidently plastered to form smooth, finished surfaces. The Umayri house contained more than 2,000 bricks, which weighed 124 tons. Our partial reconstruction of the four-room house is part of a wider restoration project at Umayri. The first phase of the project involved consolidating the stone walls of Building B. We then rebuilt the first story to show visitors what the structure originally looked like. In the next phase, undertaken just this past summer, we drew up plans for a platform from which visitors can view the site, and we installed fences, walls and a guardhouse to protect against grazing animals and would-be looters.
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