Preliminary Report on the 1997 Swiss-Liechtenstein excavations at ez Zantur
by Bernhard Kolb (with contributions by Daniel Keller and Yvonne Gerber)
III. Ez Zantur IV: Room 6
The 100 m² surface of the squares PQ 89–90/AQ–AR allowed the exposure of most of room 6 (Fig. 2–3). The room is defined by walls H, J and K as well as the pillars P1 and P2 and covers an area of about 6.8 x 8 m. Wall H is built directly on the bedrock. Its diameter of 1.2 m is the largest as yet measured on terrace EZ IV. The double-faced dry stone wall is constructed with well cut ashlars of sandstone, some of them with bosses. The eastern part of the wall is built on a foundation of one, sometimes two courses of hugh hammer-dressed brecie-blocks.
The two pillars P1 and P2 limit a broad central passage of 1.8 m width which is flanked on its inner side with stuccoed and painted half-columns (Fig. 3). The half columns have stone socles covered with a thin layer of plaster. The socle of the half column on pillar P1 is connected with the upper plastered part with two simple half roundels. The preserved parts of the columns have smooth shafts. A few ashlars found in the débris have protruding half column drums and imply that the parts of the half columns made of stucco were stabilised with these supports, jutting from the walls at regular intervals.
Fig. 3: EZ IV. Room 6 from northeast (photo: D. Keller)
The central passage is flanked by two lateral doors, which were also accentuated with stucco architecture: in the area of the south door lay a fragment of a quarter column 1.5 m in length, decorated with painted convex flutes and gilt arrises (Fig. 4). It seems fairly certain that the quarter column decorated the corner between the door and wall H. A similar find near the door on the northern side of the passage – which was not completely cleared in 1997 – has not yet been made.
Fig. 4: EZ IV. Room 6: quarter column made of plaster in situ (photo: D. Keller)
The floor of room 6 is laid out with a well preserved limestone pavement which is missing only in the western corner, where the bedding for the flagstones, made of beaten earth and closely set stones is still in situ. The thresholds of the central passage and the side doors are missing. A few fragments of the painted wall decoration rescued from the loose earth from the threshold-areas, had – as we shall see below – decorated the room till its destruction in the earthquake of 363 AD. The thresholds must therefore have already been missing in the last phase of use Few remains of the mortar bedding of the lost threshold were found in the area of the doorstep of the northern door. It is impossible at the moment, to explain a wooden slat discovered in the fill of the southern threshold area some 20 cm below the level of the adjacent flooring. .
The countless smaller and larger fragments of a mosaic in black and white technique found in the débris of room 6 almost certainly belonged to the original building context (Fig. 5). The mosaic’s geometrical design appears to have consisted of squares and triangles and is directly comparable with the painted decoration of the upper zone in room 1 Kolb 1997: 238f., Fig. 9. . The mosaic probably covered the upper floor of room 6. A glass sherd, stuck in the mortar-bedding of a mosaic fragment can be dated in the 1st century AD and seems to support the provisional dating of the villa D. Keller pointed out to me, that a comparable glass sherd from Callirrhoë was dated by Dussart in the period of the 1st century BC – 1st century AD; cf. O. Dussart, Les verres in Clamer 1997: Pl. 22.14; For a dating of the structures on EZ IV see Kolb 1997: 234. .
Fig. 5: EZ IV. Room 6: black and white mosaic fragment (photo: D. Keller)
Wood has been an extremely rare commodity since the beginning of our excavations in 1988. The substantial remains from the débris in room 6 are therefore particularly significant. They consist of six carbonised wooden beams ranging between 1.2 m and 1.4 m in length and with diameters of c. 0.12 m (Fig. 6). The cracked flagstone visible on Fig. 6 below the beams is a witness to the violence with which the wood hit the floor. An identification of the beams as parts of the floor-construction of the upper storey is likely but in no way secure: the ends of the beams which reach down to the floor, appear to have been sawed and not broken. This – given their position in the middle of the room – seems to imply that they were not part of the supporting structure of the first floor.
Fig. 6: EZ IV. Room 6: carbonised beams in situ (photo: D. Keller)
The last phase of occupation
Household objects such as a basalt hand mill, two bone spoons, an alabaster pyxis and a number of unidentifiable iron objects, as well as large quantities of ceramics and glass vessels of the 4th century AD lay buried on the pavement, along walls H and K, beneath innumerable fragments of stucco from the wall and ceiling decoration (see below for the contributions of D. Keller and Y. Gerber). The datable objects confirm last years’ findings from room 2, where the coins indicated that the end of the final phase of occupation came with the earthquake of 363 AD Kolb 1997: 234. .
The thick layer of mural- and moulded stucco fragments on top of the household utensils of the 4th century proves beyond any doubt that the Nabataean decor remained on the walls up till the aformentioned natural catastrophe In Palmyra M. Gawlikowski demonstrated stratigraphically that a dwelling of the 2nd century AD was still decorated with the original stuccoed and painted wall decoration in the Abassidian period i. e. about 600 years later! Cf. M. Gawlikowski, Fouilles récentes à Palmyre, in: Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres. Comptes rendus des séances de l’année 1991, 399–410. .
Interior decoration of room 6
The c. 40 cm thick layer of fallen stucco which was removed just north of wall H revealed an unbelievable quantity of fragmentary cornices, representing no less than a dozen different types (Fig. 7). The walls of room 6 appear to have been extremely richly decorated with horizontal divisions. It is also possible to make first statements about the decoration of the wall between the cornices. A first clue is given by three large fragments painted with white flowers, fruit and leaves on a dark green background. Another scheme is also represented by several fragments (Fig. 8). Two horizontally stepped (broken forward and back) decorative strips, each about 15 cm wide are painted plain orange resp. with a geometric pattern in black, white and red. The slight projection of the geometrically painted strip on the one hand and a base fragment on the other – again broken forward and back – make it clear that we are dealing with the remains of a vertically arranged pilaster-decoration. Both schemes appear to belong to the building’s second decorative phase : the mouldings of the first phase, which divided the walls into panels and which were subsequently plastered over in the second phase, are plainly visible on the broken edges and on the back of the fragments.
Fig. 7: EZ IV. View of fragmented stucco cornices from room 6 (photo: O. Jäggi)
The provisional dating of the second phase of decoration towards the late of the 1st century/early 2nd century AD as suggested in 1996 has been pushed forward a little on our site EZ III. In room 121 (Fig. 12) we came upon fragments of murals and cornices closely related to those on site EZ IV. A coin which had been struck under King Rabbel II, was embedded in a piece of rough plaster (rendering coat). The coin defines a terminus post quem of 103–106 AD for the decoration of room 121.
Fig. 8: EZ IV. Room 6: fragments of the painted stucco-decoration (photo: O. Jäggi)
