DOI issue:
Lebanon
DOI article:Waliszewski, Tomasz; Périssé-Valéro, Ingrid: Chhîm: explorations 2004
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42090#0417
CHHIM
LEBANON
BASILICA (AREA B.II)
Taking advantage of the fact that the mosaic
pavements had been removed from the
basilica, the Roman structures under the
church bema were investigated once again.
The temenos floor runs right up to an N-S
wall there, and to a base or podium that
closely resembles the structure uncovered
in 2000 in room E.VI next to the temple
itself.5 Building technique is the same in
this case: big blocks of stone, c. 0.50 m
long, receiving plaster at the same time
with the wall.
Hypothetically, this could be a room or
at least roofed space, situated on the oppo-
site side of the terrace with regard to the
temple. While the pottery assemblage from
the trial pit under the floor is too fragmen-
tary to support any dating, the resemblance
to the substructure from E.VI admits a date
in the 1st century AD.
CISTERN UNDER THE TEMPLE (AREA C.VI)
Clearing of the cistern under the north wall
of the temple began this year. The first layer
was a dark brown humid soil with abundant
Byzantine pottery material, animal bones,
glass lamp shards and waterproof mortar
(the plastering of the cistern), going down
to a depth of 1.20 m. At 2.50 m below the
mouth, the cistern proved to have a diame-
ter of 2.70 m. It seems apparent that in later
times the function of the cistern was as a re-
fuse dump rather than as a place for storing
water.
VILLAGE E
ROOMS E.XVIII-XIX
The two chambers lining street E.XXII on
the east continued to be explored this sea-
son.6 The north wall, which threatened to
collapse, had to be preserved on the spot
before progressing with the excavation. No
new data on the stratigraphy was recorded,
the layers including light brown soil di-
rectly on the floor (possibly from the ter-
race roof), large dressed blocks tumbled
from the walls and earth fill covering the
rubble. The floor was reached in chamber
E.XIX, near the door opening into street
E.XXII.
Another water cistern, E.IV, was locat-
ed north of the above rooms, level with the
chamber E.XVIII. It was explored last year
and this season its roof was uncovered, It
was made of small and medium-size stones
bonded in mortar. There were two walls
encasing the mouth of this cistern on the
west and north. It is difficult to ascertain
whether this was a public cistern or
whether it was connected with one of the
houses. The pottery assemblage in the rub-
ble fill above the cistern was of mixed
Roman and Byzantine date, raising suspi-
cions that H. Kalayan's restoration works
in the 1970s and 1980s had disturbed the
context here as well.
ROOM E.XXVI
The irregular quadrangle of room E.XXVI
(c. 6.50 by 4.90 m), attached to the west
5 Cf. PAM XII, Reports 2000 (2001), 299-303 and Figs. 1,2.
6 Cf. PAM XV, op. cit., 308 and Fig. 1,5.
415
LEBANON
BASILICA (AREA B.II)
Taking advantage of the fact that the mosaic
pavements had been removed from the
basilica, the Roman structures under the
church bema were investigated once again.
The temenos floor runs right up to an N-S
wall there, and to a base or podium that
closely resembles the structure uncovered
in 2000 in room E.VI next to the temple
itself.5 Building technique is the same in
this case: big blocks of stone, c. 0.50 m
long, receiving plaster at the same time
with the wall.
Hypothetically, this could be a room or
at least roofed space, situated on the oppo-
site side of the terrace with regard to the
temple. While the pottery assemblage from
the trial pit under the floor is too fragmen-
tary to support any dating, the resemblance
to the substructure from E.VI admits a date
in the 1st century AD.
CISTERN UNDER THE TEMPLE (AREA C.VI)
Clearing of the cistern under the north wall
of the temple began this year. The first layer
was a dark brown humid soil with abundant
Byzantine pottery material, animal bones,
glass lamp shards and waterproof mortar
(the plastering of the cistern), going down
to a depth of 1.20 m. At 2.50 m below the
mouth, the cistern proved to have a diame-
ter of 2.70 m. It seems apparent that in later
times the function of the cistern was as a re-
fuse dump rather than as a place for storing
water.
VILLAGE E
ROOMS E.XVIII-XIX
The two chambers lining street E.XXII on
the east continued to be explored this sea-
son.6 The north wall, which threatened to
collapse, had to be preserved on the spot
before progressing with the excavation. No
new data on the stratigraphy was recorded,
the layers including light brown soil di-
rectly on the floor (possibly from the ter-
race roof), large dressed blocks tumbled
from the walls and earth fill covering the
rubble. The floor was reached in chamber
E.XIX, near the door opening into street
E.XXII.
Another water cistern, E.IV, was locat-
ed north of the above rooms, level with the
chamber E.XVIII. It was explored last year
and this season its roof was uncovered, It
was made of small and medium-size stones
bonded in mortar. There were two walls
encasing the mouth of this cistern on the
west and north. It is difficult to ascertain
whether this was a public cistern or
whether it was connected with one of the
houses. The pottery assemblage in the rub-
ble fill above the cistern was of mixed
Roman and Byzantine date, raising suspi-
cions that H. Kalayan's restoration works
in the 1970s and 1980s had disturbed the
context here as well.
ROOM E.XXVI
The irregular quadrangle of room E.XXVI
(c. 6.50 by 4.90 m), attached to the west
5 Cf. PAM XII, Reports 2000 (2001), 299-303 and Figs. 1,2.
6 Cf. PAM XV, op. cit., 308 and Fig. 1,5.
415