Preliminary Report on the 1996 Swiss-Liechtenstein excavations at ez Zantur
by Bernhard Kolb (with contributions by Daniel Keller and Regine Fellmann Brogli)
III. Ez Zantur IV: Chronological remarks
The limited size of the excavated area and the scarcity of pottery finds make a close dating of the structures difficult, but the following finds give us some clues: From the levelling earthfill under the plaster-floor in room 1 came a gem, datable to the late 2nd. century BC – early 1st century AD see below R. Fellmann Brogli. . A very lucky find was a sherd of a painted Nabataean bowl stuck in a piece of wall plaster as a tempering element. The plaster-fragment is a complete section from the painted stucco-finish to the coarse under-plaster. It was found in the debris of corridor 2 and must have been part of the first floor wall decoration The traces of a very coarse red marbling on white background on the said fragment do not match the glossy Masonry Style decoration on the western face of wall A (corridor 2). . As for the sherd – we can definitely say that it was part of a bowl dated between 20 and 70/80 AD Compare S. G. Schmid, Die bemalte Feinkeramik von ez Zantur, in Petra-Ez Zantur I: 166 fig. 700. .
The generally sparse pottery finds and a coin of King Aretas IV (18–40 AD) from the floor level in room 1 seem at the present to confirm the dating. So we can provisionally assume that the construction and decoration of the building took place after the year 20 AD.
The last phase of occupation is best documented in corridor 2. Bronze-coins found on the late floor level of beaten earth were struck between 313 and 358 AD EF 3012; 3014; 3020–3025; 3033–3036. The coins had been analysed by M. Peter. . So the last modest use of the structures on EZ IV falls in the same period as the first building phase of the Late Roman houses on the northern terrace EZ I Kolb 1996: 74f. 85f. . The dating of the coins imply that the earthquake of 363 Russell 1980: 47ff. , which severely damaged the houses on EZ I, put an end to the occupation of the buildings on EZ IV.
