DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49516#0181
THE UPPER DEFFOFA
125
side of A and around most of B. At the southern end of the eastern wall of B, there was a
very clearly marked horizontal burnt strip about 100 cm. high, beginning 70-80 cm. above
the floor. And in general none of these fire marks reached nearer to the floor than this. It
is therefore clear that the building was abandoned and filled with debris to a height of
70-80 cm. before the roof was burned. But burned out it had been, like the Western
Deffufa, though not necessarily at the same time.
The resemblance of KII to K XI is striking1 and I examined the thick walls of KII
very carefully to find traces of a joint between a possible nucleus building and a strengthen-
ing casing like that of K XI, but in vain. The length of the building is uncertain, but it
exceeded 47 meters, and I have estimated the length at about 100 ells or 52.25 meters. The
width was about 29 m., giving a total area of about 1519.47 sq. m., or a minimum area of
1392 sq. m. Of this, the rooms and corridors occupied the following areas:
Entrance corridor 7.35 m. long by 2.30 m. wide . . 16.90 sq. m.
Room A 14.40 m. long by 5.65 m. wide .. 81.36 sq. m.
Inner corridor (first) 3.25 m. long by 2.30 m. wide . . 7.47 sq. m.
Room B (first room) 17.00 m. long by 6.60 m. wide . . 112.20 sq. m.
Total 217.93 sq. m.
Thus the walls occupied between 84.6% and 85.66% of the whole area, while the rooms
took between 14.34 % and 15.4 %. But even assuming that there was a casing wall which,
owing to the decayed state of the walls, escaped my detection, the analogy with K XI
is complete and a second story must be assumed for K II as for K XI. Nevertheless, I
failed also, after long and repeated searches, to find a stairway from room B or any traces
of the lines of the rooms of the upper story. I can state quite positively that there was no
entrance in B through the restored wall, and that during the last period of occupation the
only entrance to the upper story of which any traces remain was by means of an exterior
stair or slope ascending over the two parallel walls in front of the eastern part of the southern
face. This probably led to a stairway passage beginning two or three meters above the
ground and continuing through the masonry of the eastern wall to the apartments of the
second story.2
2. THE DEBRIS IN K II
It has been noted above that there was a layer 60 cm. deep of hard packed debris out-
side the front wall. The top of this layer was level with the top of the second or stone pave-
ment which extended through the entrance corridor and room A. This second floor had
been partly torn up and the column-bases undermined, before the deposition of the greater
part of the debris; but before this tearing up, a thin hard layer of fine dark debris, only
5-10 cm. deep, had been laid down, in which were a number of small objects and fragments.
This hard layer in the rooms appears to have been partly debris of occupation and partly
the first deposit of debris of decay. Over the floor debris lay a mass of broken brickwork
reaching to the weathered tops of the walls, not homogeneous but separable into a lower
layer (50-80 cm.) of finer, firmer mud and sand, and an upper layer of coarse debris, con-
taining even considerable masses of fallen brickwork. The layer of coals and burned
materials, and the fire marks on the walls were along the top of the firmer stratum of
1 See Chapter X.
2 Cf. the entrance to K I, p. 23.
125
side of A and around most of B. At the southern end of the eastern wall of B, there was a
very clearly marked horizontal burnt strip about 100 cm. high, beginning 70-80 cm. above
the floor. And in general none of these fire marks reached nearer to the floor than this. It
is therefore clear that the building was abandoned and filled with debris to a height of
70-80 cm. before the roof was burned. But burned out it had been, like the Western
Deffufa, though not necessarily at the same time.
The resemblance of KII to K XI is striking1 and I examined the thick walls of KII
very carefully to find traces of a joint between a possible nucleus building and a strengthen-
ing casing like that of K XI, but in vain. The length of the building is uncertain, but it
exceeded 47 meters, and I have estimated the length at about 100 ells or 52.25 meters. The
width was about 29 m., giving a total area of about 1519.47 sq. m., or a minimum area of
1392 sq. m. Of this, the rooms and corridors occupied the following areas:
Entrance corridor 7.35 m. long by 2.30 m. wide . . 16.90 sq. m.
Room A 14.40 m. long by 5.65 m. wide .. 81.36 sq. m.
Inner corridor (first) 3.25 m. long by 2.30 m. wide . . 7.47 sq. m.
Room B (first room) 17.00 m. long by 6.60 m. wide . . 112.20 sq. m.
Total 217.93 sq. m.
Thus the walls occupied between 84.6% and 85.66% of the whole area, while the rooms
took between 14.34 % and 15.4 %. But even assuming that there was a casing wall which,
owing to the decayed state of the walls, escaped my detection, the analogy with K XI
is complete and a second story must be assumed for K II as for K XI. Nevertheless, I
failed also, after long and repeated searches, to find a stairway from room B or any traces
of the lines of the rooms of the upper story. I can state quite positively that there was no
entrance in B through the restored wall, and that during the last period of occupation the
only entrance to the upper story of which any traces remain was by means of an exterior
stair or slope ascending over the two parallel walls in front of the eastern part of the southern
face. This probably led to a stairway passage beginning two or three meters above the
ground and continuing through the masonry of the eastern wall to the apartments of the
second story.2
2. THE DEBRIS IN K II
It has been noted above that there was a layer 60 cm. deep of hard packed debris out-
side the front wall. The top of this layer was level with the top of the second or stone pave-
ment which extended through the entrance corridor and room A. This second floor had
been partly torn up and the column-bases undermined, before the deposition of the greater
part of the debris; but before this tearing up, a thin hard layer of fine dark debris, only
5-10 cm. deep, had been laid down, in which were a number of small objects and fragments.
This hard layer in the rooms appears to have been partly debris of occupation and partly
the first deposit of debris of decay. Over the floor debris lay a mass of broken brickwork
reaching to the weathered tops of the walls, not homogeneous but separable into a lower
layer (50-80 cm.) of finer, firmer mud and sand, and an upper layer of coarse debris, con-
taining even considerable masses of fallen brickwork. The layer of coals and burned
materials, and the fire marks on the walls were along the top of the firmer stratum of
1 See Chapter X.
2 Cf. the entrance to K I, p. 23.