DOI Artikel:
Gawlikowski, Michał: Palmyra
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42008#0044
other hand, existing floors in red-painted mortar are typical of the Islamic
settlement as we know it in the Diocletian's Camp. This impression is confirmed
beyond doubt by aKufic grafitto on one of the floors, but evenmore
convincingly by the uniform fill in all the excavated rooms, dated everywhere in
the 8th century.
At the beginning of the Umayyad period, the house was divided into several
family units by means of closing the porticoes with low walls set between
columns. Later on, some of the larger rooms have been split into two, probably
in connection with decay of the original ceilings. Other rooms have remained
intact, as can be seen from extensive finds of stucco fragments fallen from
ceilings on the destruction levels otherwise dated firmly in the 8th century. It
appears, than, that the architectonic decoration of the house had at least
partly survived through six centuries of continuous use, This is an astonishing
conclusion, but it is securely founded on stratigraphical evidence.
The character of the occupation has changed completely during these
centuries, in spite of the continuity of the settlement. A wealthy urban
residence of the Roman period had come to lodge several modest families, one of
which installed an oil press and a cooking oven in the northern portico of the
house.
The stucco pieces found can be usefully compared to those of the House of
Achilles and of the porticoes of sanctuaries of Nebo and Baalshamin, while they
are clearly older than the lot recovered from the construction site of the
HeridianHotel. Strictly Classical motives, such as ovolo,kymation, dentils and
scrolls, are being used in the decoration of these friezes with the exclusion of
figurative subjects. Me hope to find more in the remaining parts of the house.
We were not able to continue the task in 1969, as the heap of removed earth
could not be.evacuated from the site on useful time. The digging is postponed
tillnextyear. Instead, the basilica behind the eight columns was entirely
cleared inside.(Fig 2.)
40
settlement as we know it in the Diocletian's Camp. This impression is confirmed
beyond doubt by aKufic grafitto on one of the floors, but evenmore
convincingly by the uniform fill in all the excavated rooms, dated everywhere in
the 8th century.
At the beginning of the Umayyad period, the house was divided into several
family units by means of closing the porticoes with low walls set between
columns. Later on, some of the larger rooms have been split into two, probably
in connection with decay of the original ceilings. Other rooms have remained
intact, as can be seen from extensive finds of stucco fragments fallen from
ceilings on the destruction levels otherwise dated firmly in the 8th century. It
appears, than, that the architectonic decoration of the house had at least
partly survived through six centuries of continuous use, This is an astonishing
conclusion, but it is securely founded on stratigraphical evidence.
The character of the occupation has changed completely during these
centuries, in spite of the continuity of the settlement. A wealthy urban
residence of the Roman period had come to lodge several modest families, one of
which installed an oil press and a cooking oven in the northern portico of the
house.
The stucco pieces found can be usefully compared to those of the House of
Achilles and of the porticoes of sanctuaries of Nebo and Baalshamin, while they
are clearly older than the lot recovered from the construction site of the
HeridianHotel. Strictly Classical motives, such as ovolo,kymation, dentils and
scrolls, are being used in the decoration of these friezes with the exclusion of
figurative subjects. Me hope to find more in the remaining parts of the house.
We were not able to continue the task in 1969, as the heap of removed earth
could not be.evacuated from the site on useful time. The digging is postponed
tillnextyear. Instead, the basilica behind the eight columns was entirely
cleared inside.(Fig 2.)
40