by Laurent Gorgerat and Robert Wenning, with a note by Laila Nehmé
The International Aṣlaḥ-Project conducted between 2010 and 2012 allows more precise conclusions regarding the use of the complex. First off all, it must be noted that that the Southern Terrace with the triclinium D17 and the Northern Terrace with the chamber tomb BD 24 and other architectural structures are of two different periods and cannot directly be put in one coherent plan. The triclinium is dated ca. 96 BC. If the new suggestions by numismatists are correct, that we have to delete Obodas II (62–60 BC) from the list of Nabataean Kings, then the argument to relate the inscription to Obodas I is even stronger. The Nabataean fine ware from the Northern Terrace is not older than the late first century BC. It can be attributed to Schmid’s phase 2b (30/20 – 5/4 BC) (Schmid 2000: 38). That means in any case there is a gap between the period of the inscription Wenning – Gorgerat 2012: 132–136; Gorgerat – Wenning 2013: 223–225. and the period of the architectural efforts at the Northern terrace dated by pottery. Therefore, we have to accept two main phases of construction at the site. It is not only the gap between the inscription and the pottery that defines the two periods. The structures of the Southern Terrace and of the Northern Terrace do not follow a coherent plan. While the chambers of the Southern Terrace are cut into the natural rock without changing its shape, the architecture in front of the chamber tomb on the Northern Terrace was built after the rock had been pulled down. The rock of the Aṣlaḥ-triclinium is sharply cut towards the west to enlarge the area in front of the tomb. The outer wall of the Northern terrace enclosed the structures in front of the tomb strictly from the open area in front of the triclinium. There is no attempt to correlate the two terraces. There is no line which would correspond with the older installations. An old water channel running diagonally across the Northern Terrace is cut by the foundation trenches for the outer wall and thus testifies the two periods as well Gorgerat – Wenning 2013: 267–268. . After we learned in the 2011 season that the chamber tomb BD 24 did not belong to the Aṣlaḥ-triclinium, we are left with an aporia, having a rock-cut triclinium but not a tomb belonging to it. Triclinia are not per se identified as part of tomb sites. On the contrary, among the more than 100 triclinia, biclinia and stibadia in Petra, less than a quarter belong to burial places, but the Aṣlaḥ-triclinium is situated in a necropolis. There is no other monumental tomb nearby which could be related to the Aṣlaḥ-triclinium. Therefore, we have to consider that among the large number of the pit graves in the hillocks there are the tomb of Aṣlaḥ and other members of that clan. None of the pit graves is of outstanding size or construction or in an intended direction towards the triclinium to be declared as the possible grave of Aṣlaḥ.
The excavations of the Aṣlaḥ-Triclinium-Complex have produced an example of an early assembly place of a clan in a necropolis. It is a ‚burial complex‘ without a monumental tomb but with a monumental triclinium. The site is enclosed by rocks and hillocks, not by structures built in masonry. The chambers at the Southern Terrace without boundary structures, porticos and monumental entranceways are more functional than luxury architecture. This seems to be typical for the earliest tomb complexes, the latter for later tomb complexes. In front of the triclinium, there was a large open space free of installations. Nevertheless, the triclinium, the small rooms beside it, the niches for betyls, the various water installations and the pit graves formed a ‚sacred space’, which is different from the later tomb complexes. The discussion of the function explained that also this early assemblage was already a multifunctional complex Wenning – Gorgerat 2012: 136–138. . For the first time, the early beginnings could be studied. Also the chamber tomb and the structures in front of it, added at a later stage, are different from the contemporary tomb complexes, which were constructed following a more homogeneous plan.
Laurent Gorgerat
Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig
St. Alban-Graben 5
CH-4010 Basel
Prof. Dr. Robert Wenning
Institut für Altorientalische Philologie und Vorderasiatische Altertumskunde
Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
Rosenstrasse 9
D-48143 Münster