Preliminary Report on the 2000 Swiss-Liechtenstein excavations at ez Zantur
by Bernhard Kolb and Daniel Keller
VII. Ez Zantur IV: An eye idol found in room 30
In the northwestern area of room 30 which is in very bad repair, a narrow stone alignement runs parallel to the outer wall AY (Figs. 1–2). Into this definitely late structure an eye idol had been built; the rectangular stele (47 cm high, 30 cm wide and 14 cm deep) is cut from fine-grained, light-coloured limestone (Fig. 14) PQ 94/AN, Abs. 2, FK 3349, EF 3326. Lower level: 924.99 m. For eye idols cf. F. Zayadine, Die Götter der Nabatäer, 114–116 with Fig. 8 in: M. Lindner (ed.) Petra und das Königreich der Nabatäer (Munich 19803); H. Merklein – R. Wenning, Ein neuentdeckter Augenbetyl in der Hremiye-Schlucht nebst einer Übersicht über die bekannten nabatäischen Augenbetyle, 71–88, in: U. Hübner, Reisegefährten. Für Manfred Lindner zum 80. Geburtstag. Bonner Biblische Beiträge vol. 118 (Bodenheim 1998). .
Fig. 14: EZ IV. Nabataean eye idol found in room 30 (Photo: O. Jaeggi)
Two square frames define the eyes with round, centrally placed pupils and a vertical rectangle as nose constitute the schematic face cut in shallow relief. The external ledges of the eyes are badly weathered, and the right pupil is almost completely missing. A detailed study of idol will be published in due time. It is, however, remarkable that some years ago a tiny eye idol carved out of bone had been found in a room used as a workshop, namely room XXI on the steep northwestern slope of excavation site EZ I R. A. Stucky, Ausgewählte Kleinfunde, no. 2, 337–338 with Figs. 943–944 in: A. Bignasca et al., Petra Ez Zantur I. Ergebnisse der Schweizerisch-Liechtensteinischen Ausgrabungen 1988–1992. Terra Archaeologica Vol. II (Mainz 1996). . The question arises whether the eye idol from room 30 originally was placed in a „shrine“ within the mansion, or was it collected somewhere else and brought to EZ IV just because it had the right size to be reused in the stone alignement?
Bernhard Kolb Schweizerisch-Liechtensteinische Ausgrabungen in Petra der Universität Basel Schönbeinstrasse 20 4056 Basel
