DOI article:
Gawlikowski, Michał: Palmyra
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43746#0141
THE KITCHEN YARD
This unit had an independent entrance from Diogenes
Street, later blocked, and included close to it a lavatory and
another room of uncertain purpose (loci 30-32). Opposite, there
opened a porch of two columns between pilasters (loc. 28), giving
access, by means of two parallel doors, to a room behind (loc. 27).
This was later used as a kitchen, and it would be reasonable to
suppose that it was so from the very beginning. Made to communi-
cate easily with the living units to the right and left, these rooms
were obviously much lower than the adjoining wings on either
side. The diameter of the columns in the porch being 45 cm, the
roof over them would be at about the same level as over the
similar porch loc. 21, that is some 75 cm below the terrace of the
adjoining southern colonnade, and twice as much below that of the
middle court. There was, then, no level passage between the loci
of the upper floor.
A well was found in the court. It is the fourth well in the
house, now filled in but used throughout the long history of the
building, as the raised level of the stone casing of the well clearly
indicates. There was also a drainage well under the floor level
nearby. It has already been established previously that no outside
water adduction was available in Antiquity; (however, in the
Islamic period there were water pipes laid along streets on either
side of the block).
The lavatory loc. 31 was thus not equipped with running
water. In the front part of this recess, there was a water tank 60
cm deep, covered with slabs forming the floor. Behind a cross wall
a paved ditch 1.30 m deep emptied through a vaulted opening
under the street, probably into a drain.
139
This unit had an independent entrance from Diogenes
Street, later blocked, and included close to it a lavatory and
another room of uncertain purpose (loci 30-32). Opposite, there
opened a porch of two columns between pilasters (loc. 28), giving
access, by means of two parallel doors, to a room behind (loc. 27).
This was later used as a kitchen, and it would be reasonable to
suppose that it was so from the very beginning. Made to communi-
cate easily with the living units to the right and left, these rooms
were obviously much lower than the adjoining wings on either
side. The diameter of the columns in the porch being 45 cm, the
roof over them would be at about the same level as over the
similar porch loc. 21, that is some 75 cm below the terrace of the
adjoining southern colonnade, and twice as much below that of the
middle court. There was, then, no level passage between the loci
of the upper floor.
A well was found in the court. It is the fourth well in the
house, now filled in but used throughout the long history of the
building, as the raised level of the stone casing of the well clearly
indicates. There was also a drainage well under the floor level
nearby. It has already been established previously that no outside
water adduction was available in Antiquity; (however, in the
Islamic period there were water pipes laid along streets on either
side of the block).
The lavatory loc. 31 was thus not equipped with running
water. In the front part of this recess, there was a water tank 60
cm deep, covered with slabs forming the floor. Behind a cross wall
a paved ditch 1.30 m deep emptied through a vaulted opening
under the street, probably into a drain.
139