DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4945#0047
36 The Archaic Artemisia of Ephesus.
hindered its flow to the distant " sump " from which the suction-pipe had to lift it.
After cutting channels through solid foundations at the cost of nearly a month's
labour, I found that the ground-water could not be exhausted by direct pumping
below — 3" 70, and, therefore, in order to explore the lowest stratum, whose
existence the work of the previous season had demonstrated, I had to isolate
small areas and exhaust them with small auxiliary pumps. The Basis, which the
good preservation of the enceinte rendered it easy to make comparatively water-
tight, was taken first and isolated. A 2-inch contractor's pump was rigged up on
a frame above it, and the water was lifted into a flume and conducted outside the
area of the Croesus cello, to a point whence it could run away by gravity to the
main " sump." But so rapidly did water re-enter that every morning, when
work began, the Basis was found once more full, and its pump failed to exhaust
it by midday without the help of a score of balers. Every corner and cranny of
the inner rectangle was now re-examined, and the bottom sand scraped away to
some depth. Even the clay bedding of the walls themselves was explored, that
under the west wall in patches to obviate the collapse of the structure, that under
the south, east, and north walls after the partial removal of the remains of the
walls themselves. These were so scanty and so inevitably condemned for all
time to come to be deeply submerged, that I had no hesitation in destroying them
in part after measurement, in the hope of finding deposits under the corners of
the rectangle ; but this hope proved vain. The spaces included within the
extension of the Basis to south, east and north, were also cleared out to the
bottom, but yielded very few objects, and these entirely from the lower layers of
filling. The only observation of importance to be recorded is this, that in the
N.E. angle of the extension (see later) and in the lowest stratum of filling
( — 4* 70) occurred an immense number of vertebra?, probably of sheep or goats.
The objects found within the Basis are described in a later section, and it is
only necessary to say here that they numbered about 800 (beads, fragments
of foil, and other fragments too far gone for recognition, not counted), and
included a number of electrum coins, some scarabs, and the great majority of the
articles of feminine jewellery which made up the collection eventually extracted
from the lower Primitive strata. In fact, almost all the earrings, brooches,
and hairpins in precious metal, and the fibulae and fi6u/a-p\ates were found in
the Basis ; while all the statuettes and animal figures, in whatever material, all
large fragments of ivory and bronze, such as may have formed part of coffers or
furniture, and almost all the objects in crystal were found outside. No pottery,
except a few minute sherds and two small plain vases, lay within the Basis. Its
filling, indeed, was unmixed, so far as I could judge, with purely fortuitous
hindered its flow to the distant " sump " from which the suction-pipe had to lift it.
After cutting channels through solid foundations at the cost of nearly a month's
labour, I found that the ground-water could not be exhausted by direct pumping
below — 3" 70, and, therefore, in order to explore the lowest stratum, whose
existence the work of the previous season had demonstrated, I had to isolate
small areas and exhaust them with small auxiliary pumps. The Basis, which the
good preservation of the enceinte rendered it easy to make comparatively water-
tight, was taken first and isolated. A 2-inch contractor's pump was rigged up on
a frame above it, and the water was lifted into a flume and conducted outside the
area of the Croesus cello, to a point whence it could run away by gravity to the
main " sump." But so rapidly did water re-enter that every morning, when
work began, the Basis was found once more full, and its pump failed to exhaust
it by midday without the help of a score of balers. Every corner and cranny of
the inner rectangle was now re-examined, and the bottom sand scraped away to
some depth. Even the clay bedding of the walls themselves was explored, that
under the west wall in patches to obviate the collapse of the structure, that under
the south, east, and north walls after the partial removal of the remains of the
walls themselves. These were so scanty and so inevitably condemned for all
time to come to be deeply submerged, that I had no hesitation in destroying them
in part after measurement, in the hope of finding deposits under the corners of
the rectangle ; but this hope proved vain. The spaces included within the
extension of the Basis to south, east and north, were also cleared out to the
bottom, but yielded very few objects, and these entirely from the lower layers of
filling. The only observation of importance to be recorded is this, that in the
N.E. angle of the extension (see later) and in the lowest stratum of filling
( — 4* 70) occurred an immense number of vertebra?, probably of sheep or goats.
The objects found within the Basis are described in a later section, and it is
only necessary to say here that they numbered about 800 (beads, fragments
of foil, and other fragments too far gone for recognition, not counted), and
included a number of electrum coins, some scarabs, and the great majority of the
articles of feminine jewellery which made up the collection eventually extracted
from the lower Primitive strata. In fact, almost all the earrings, brooches,
and hairpins in precious metal, and the fibulae and fi6u/a-p\ates were found in
the Basis ; while all the statuettes and animal figures, in whatever material, all
large fragments of ivory and bronze, such as may have formed part of coffers or
furniture, and almost all the objects in crystal were found outside. No pottery,
except a few minute sherds and two small plain vases, lay within the Basis. Its
filling, indeed, was unmixed, so far as I could judge, with purely fortuitous