Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (13.2001(2002))

CHHiM

LEBANON

orbes elements are found on either side, just
as they had been positioned in antiquity,
missing only the wooden beam that had
connected them.
East of it was the monolithic separator
basin measuring 1.51 by 1.18 m, where
the oil was refined. Under the outflow
opening pierced just above the floor of the
basin a smaller circular basin had been set
up to collect water and impurities.
The oil-press installations of the oil
press took up the northern part of the
building. These included a niche in the
western wall, a stone bed and a basin at its
foot, and a single weight. Lacking space for
a basin where the bags could be set aside,
the original builders erected an appropriate

structure of plastered stone on the southern
side.
An interesting change in the function-
ing of the oil press has been observed. At
some point in time, which is difficult to
ascertain, the niche was blocked, the
weights lowered and a transversal wall
built to cover them. The remaining
installations continued in use.
It is now clear that Oil Press E.II
consisted of three independently func-
tioning presses (the one on the upper ter-
race remains to be excavated). The dif-
ference in levels is presumably a factor of
site layout - bedrock rising higher here
forced the ancient builders to situate one of
the presses on a higher level.

TEMENOS A

Excavations in the temenos in front of the
facade of the Roman temple concentrated,
on one hand, on finding remains connected
with the temple itself and on the other, on
gaining a better understanding of the
chronology of potential earlier structures
that could be connected with the
settlement phase of the 1st century AD
recorded under the temple during previous
campaigns.
The gently sloping area of the temenos
permitted the floor level in its northern
part to be uncovered under only a thin
layer of accumulation. The phase dated to
the 2nd century AD includes a four-step
staircase in excellent condition, discovered
next to the northeastern corner of the
temple and leading to its pronaos (Fig. 6).
On the southern side these steps had been
removed in antiquity so completely that no
traces survive. The lime floor that was un-
covered preserves fragments of nidus in the
form of a layer of stones (especially near the

cistern). Two sewage channels oriented on
a N-S line were set into this floor. They
emptied toward the south. The eastern
channel made of terracotta pipes starts in
the upper part of the cistern opening; at
some time during the functioning of the
complex it was blocked with mortar. The
western channel, which runs between the
temple steps and the cistern, is rectangular
in section and was made entirely in mortar;
its beginning, as well as its end has yet to
be excavated.
Undoubtedly, the most interesting find
connected with this floor is the presence of
a road lined with columns on either side,
following a line marked out by the long
axis of the temple. The northern edge of
this street is quite distinct. The street
surface is separated from the portico floor
by a raised substructure (7-8 cm high) for
the columns, which are c. 0.44 m in
diameter (to judge by the imprints in
plaster that are all that survives of the

4) Cf. Ibid., 298; and id., PAM XI. Reports 1999 (2000), 238-241.

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