As we do know from several sites in Petra Schmid 2009b: 139–170. , mainly from the Wadi Farasa Schmid 2009a: 95–105, Schmid 2001: 159–197. , the Nabataeans planned their funerary structures as multifunctional complexes. According to this knowledge, one of the aim of the IAP 2010 was to check if any architectural structure could be linked to the rock-cut structures. Therefore, we opened a 1.5 m broad trench from the entrance of the triclinium (D. 17) to the visible bedrock about 10 m ahead. This sounding S 2 (fig. 10) unfortunately yielded no architectural structures in front of the triclinium, but demonstrated how the rock was damaged by intruding water. While we expected such water damages near to the foot of the rock due to natural and artificial channels leading the water down as well as cracks in the rock itself, we discovered that the rock was affected by water also in the open area and in a depth up to 1.5 m. From this trench, we got the so far earliest pottery found on this site (fig. 11). These Nabataean fine ware sherds can be attributed to Schmid’s phase 1 (100–50 BC) and 2a (50–25 BC), which fits nicely with the dated inscription Schmid 2000: 37. . After the completion of the documentation, sounding S 2 was refilled and closed again.
Fig. 10: Southern Terrace. Sounding S 2 in front of the triclinium of Aslah (photo: L. Gorgerat)Fig. 11: Nabataean fine ware from sounding S 2 (photo: L. Gorgerat)
