DOI issue:
Egypt
DOI article:Woźniak, Marek: Newly discovered latrine on Kom el-Dikka (2005/2006 season): appendix 1
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42092#0046
ALEXANDRIA
EGYPT
construction solved the problem of
emptying the latrine channels. The rest of
the job had to be accomplished with more
traditional methods, like water-sluicing, the
sewage being emptied into a collector
which would have been situated most
probably under or next to Street R4.
Dividing the channel by the north wall
was a kind of wide pavement made of
regular limestone blocks, suggesting the
location of the entrance to the facility in
this spot. The evidence for a door is equally
circumstantial, as all the walls with
the exception of small parts of the
foundations and a part of the south wall
just above the ground, were completely
destroyed by medieval stone robbers in
search of building material on Kom el-
Dikka.
The pavement of the latrine was
composed of limestone slabs measuring
c. 0.80-0.90 by 0.40 m and c. 4 cm thick.
These slabs are now badly cracked and in
many places completely destroyed. The
slabs were laid in latitudinal rows, the only
exception being one row alongside the
western channel, which was laid with the
short ends of the slabs to the north and
south. The actual number of flagstones is
difficult to calculate due to the damages.
The pavement suffered presumably
because of the smaller soil fraction being
washed out from under it in the direction of
the robbers' pits. This phenomenon appears
to have been especially intense in the center
of the room, resulting in the displacement
of the ground toward the north where,
unlike the western and northwestern part,
no surviving walls could hold back the
process. This ground displacement resulted
in uneven settling of the floor, causing the
pavement to crack and forming as a result
three different levels. About 40% of the
floor surface is still on the original or
approximately original level. The lower-
most level of the pavement is currently
some 40 cm below it and is preserved at the
western extreme edge of the pavement. The
practically original level of the pavement in
the northeastern part of the room is
presumably due to the presence of the stone
passage cutting across the northern channel,
perhaps leading to the latrine entrance.
Despite extensive damages, the ap-
pearance of the facility can be reconstructed.
The location of the channels clearly
indicates the arrangement of the seating.
The look of the block with the trough, as
well as traces at the edge of the pavement
will permit a partial reconstruction of the
water installation inside the facility. It will
be important for the reconstruction study of
this public toilet facility to verify excavation
data with parallels provided by
exceptionally well preserved latrines
discovered in Lepcis Magna, Scythopolis
and other Roman-age cities of North Africa
and the Near East.
44
EGYPT
construction solved the problem of
emptying the latrine channels. The rest of
the job had to be accomplished with more
traditional methods, like water-sluicing, the
sewage being emptied into a collector
which would have been situated most
probably under or next to Street R4.
Dividing the channel by the north wall
was a kind of wide pavement made of
regular limestone blocks, suggesting the
location of the entrance to the facility in
this spot. The evidence for a door is equally
circumstantial, as all the walls with
the exception of small parts of the
foundations and a part of the south wall
just above the ground, were completely
destroyed by medieval stone robbers in
search of building material on Kom el-
Dikka.
The pavement of the latrine was
composed of limestone slabs measuring
c. 0.80-0.90 by 0.40 m and c. 4 cm thick.
These slabs are now badly cracked and in
many places completely destroyed. The
slabs were laid in latitudinal rows, the only
exception being one row alongside the
western channel, which was laid with the
short ends of the slabs to the north and
south. The actual number of flagstones is
difficult to calculate due to the damages.
The pavement suffered presumably
because of the smaller soil fraction being
washed out from under it in the direction of
the robbers' pits. This phenomenon appears
to have been especially intense in the center
of the room, resulting in the displacement
of the ground toward the north where,
unlike the western and northwestern part,
no surviving walls could hold back the
process. This ground displacement resulted
in uneven settling of the floor, causing the
pavement to crack and forming as a result
three different levels. About 40% of the
floor surface is still on the original or
approximately original level. The lower-
most level of the pavement is currently
some 40 cm below it and is preserved at the
western extreme edge of the pavement. The
practically original level of the pavement in
the northeastern part of the room is
presumably due to the presence of the stone
passage cutting across the northern channel,
perhaps leading to the latrine entrance.
Despite extensive damages, the ap-
pearance of the facility can be reconstructed.
The location of the channels clearly
indicates the arrangement of the seating.
The look of the block with the trough, as
well as traces at the edge of the pavement
will permit a partial reconstruction of the
water installation inside the facility. It will
be important for the reconstruction study of
this public toilet facility to verify excavation
data with parallels provided by
exceptionally well preserved latrines
discovered in Lepcis Magna, Scythopolis
and other Roman-age cities of North Africa
and the Near East.
44