DOI issue:
Lebanon
DOI article:Waliszewski, Tomasz; Périssé-Valéro, Ingrid [Contr.]: Chhîm: explorations 2005
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42091#0418
CHHiM
LEBANON
the previous season, oriented North-South
and parallel to the east wall proper, just
0.50 m away from it.
This season the existing E-W wall on
the south side of the "tower" was
dismantled revealing an earlier wall of the
same orientation [Fig. 2], This wall was
built of large stone blocks and it adjoined
at right angles the ghost walls signaled by
the rock-cut foundation trenches.
A test trench dug in the center of
the "tower" brought up ceramic material
accumulated in a layer of compact clayey
earth, indicating occupation of the spot
earlier than in Hellenistic and Roman
times. At least one layer with traceable
connection with the rock-cut foundation
trenches can be dated provisionally to the
Bronze Age. While the pottery is still
under study, it can be said with a fair
amount of certainty that the Roman
"tower" had walled in an earlier structure
that may have already held significance as
an ancient place of worship.
TEMENOS A
Verification and clearing work were planned
in several areas of the Roman sanctuary in
order to clarify the plan of the complex as
a whole. In the southern part (sector XI), yet
another small unit was added to the
excavated three adjoining the north wall of
the temenos [Fig. 1], This wall now appears
to run further to the east, disappearing
under the modern road. The room itself has
the wall foundations cut into bedrock,
backing up slightly to join the east wall,
thus suggesting that it was last in the row of
cells situated on the slope of the sanctuary
terrace.
The fill in this room, as in other units in
this series, consisted of a 20-cm thick layer
of earth and rubble, superimposed on a layer
of blocks from the collapsed walls,
especially the north wall which fell away
slightly to the south. Immediately
underneath the blocks was the occupational
layer lying on a pavement of irregular
flagstones. The blocks which bonded with
the north wall in the northwestern corner
could have been part of a staircase. There is
every reason to think that these rooms were
all abandoned before their ultimate
destruction.
Sector X in the northern end of the
sanctuary covered an area just by the walls
of houses E.XII and E.XIII, where an
existing basin adjoining the wall was taken
advantage of to check the stratigraphy down
to bedrock. This was encountered 0.40 m
below the floor of the basin. A layer of
brown compact soil immediately under the
bedding layer of the basin contained pottery
Fig. 3. Roman structures uncovered during the
dismantling of a Late Antique
platform in the northern part of the
temenos (Photo l. Perisse)
414
LEBANON
the previous season, oriented North-South
and parallel to the east wall proper, just
0.50 m away from it.
This season the existing E-W wall on
the south side of the "tower" was
dismantled revealing an earlier wall of the
same orientation [Fig. 2], This wall was
built of large stone blocks and it adjoined
at right angles the ghost walls signaled by
the rock-cut foundation trenches.
A test trench dug in the center of
the "tower" brought up ceramic material
accumulated in a layer of compact clayey
earth, indicating occupation of the spot
earlier than in Hellenistic and Roman
times. At least one layer with traceable
connection with the rock-cut foundation
trenches can be dated provisionally to the
Bronze Age. While the pottery is still
under study, it can be said with a fair
amount of certainty that the Roman
"tower" had walled in an earlier structure
that may have already held significance as
an ancient place of worship.
TEMENOS A
Verification and clearing work were planned
in several areas of the Roman sanctuary in
order to clarify the plan of the complex as
a whole. In the southern part (sector XI), yet
another small unit was added to the
excavated three adjoining the north wall of
the temenos [Fig. 1], This wall now appears
to run further to the east, disappearing
under the modern road. The room itself has
the wall foundations cut into bedrock,
backing up slightly to join the east wall,
thus suggesting that it was last in the row of
cells situated on the slope of the sanctuary
terrace.
The fill in this room, as in other units in
this series, consisted of a 20-cm thick layer
of earth and rubble, superimposed on a layer
of blocks from the collapsed walls,
especially the north wall which fell away
slightly to the south. Immediately
underneath the blocks was the occupational
layer lying on a pavement of irregular
flagstones. The blocks which bonded with
the north wall in the northwestern corner
could have been part of a staircase. There is
every reason to think that these rooms were
all abandoned before their ultimate
destruction.
Sector X in the northern end of the
sanctuary covered an area just by the walls
of houses E.XII and E.XIII, where an
existing basin adjoining the wall was taken
advantage of to check the stratigraphy down
to bedrock. This was encountered 0.40 m
below the floor of the basin. A layer of
brown compact soil immediately under the
bedding layer of the basin contained pottery
Fig. 3. Roman structures uncovered during the
dismantling of a Late Antique
platform in the northern part of the
temenos (Photo l. Perisse)
414