Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (13.2001(2002))

CHHIM

LEBANON

must have been used as cupboards to hold
household utensils. Exploration along the
southern wall revealed clear evidence of
interior plastering. On the west, the wall
closing the room is of later date, having
incorporated in the middle section a pillar
that had once supported the ceiling of the
initially combined spaces E.XII and E.XIIE
A column could have served as the other
roof support — two shaft drums were
discovered in the fill. At the northern end
of this wall a small passage was left to ensure
communication between the two rooms.
A heavily damaged lime floor was
cleared throughout the structure.
STRUCTURE E. XIII
This year we removed only the upper layer
of the fill consisting of collapsed stones
from the upper parts of walls. A door
opening onto a street, now blocked, was
subsequently observed in the western wall.
STRUCTURE E. XIV
The room (c. 4.25 by 3-25 m) is accessible
through a door in the western wall. In an
earlier phase, the northern wall did not yet
exist, there being instead a pillar pre-
sumably supporting the roof. All other
elements of the wall that have been
brought to light are part of a later

blocking. Once the fill was cleared, the
floor turned out to be a relatively well-
preserved tamped-earth-and-lime-mortar
surface spreading all over the space.
Potsherds from the fill provide evidence of
occupation in the Byzantine period. A low
bench of a few flat stones survives in the
northeastern corner. Supplementing the
interior furnishings is a rectangular niche
with triangular top in the eastern wall; at
some point in the room's occupation this
niche was blocked with stones.
A test pit in the southwestern corner of
the room uncovered an earlier floor level,
presumably Roman, some 0.30 m below
the Byzantine one. Many small stones were
found on this floor, as well as a hearth of
fired clay, some 0.45 m in diameter and
filled with ashes.
STRUCTURE E. XV
In the last phase of use, this long space
(c. 4.60 by 1.75 m) served as a corridor
leading to room E.XI. Irregular stones
paved the floor, turning into low steps that
led up to the threshold of room E.XI on
the east. A similar floor to that in E.XIV
was found under the pavement. It appears
probable that E.XV and E.XIV had once
constituted a single room with a pillar in
the center supporting the roof.

OIL PRESS E.II

The western end of this installation, which
is located to the north of Basilica B, was
now explored {Fig. 4). The dimensions of
the building as a whole are 6.20 by 9-50 m.
The aim of the present work was to achieve
a better understanding of interior layout.
An extension of last year's trench3)
revealed a second pillar, also square in
section, standing in line with the first one.
3) Cf. Ibid., 305-306, Figs. 5, 6

Close to the building entrance, in the
southeastern part of the structure, two
stone blocks were discovered side by side;
both had a single regular hole cut in them
and had obviously constituted the
foundation of a wooden support of the
press-beam. All around there was
a tamped-earth floor lying straight on
bedrock, which comes up in places. The

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