Preliminary Report on the 2001 Swiss-Liechtenstein excavations at ez Zantur
by Bernhard Kolb and Daniel Keller
III. Ez Zantur IV: Room 37 and the soundings along the eastern facade
With the excavation of square 89/AK the remainder of room 37 was exposed. In construction phase 1 (early 1st century AD) this room measuring approx. 8.2 x 4 m had a wide door (1.2 m) in wall BA leading to room 28 and a door with an opening of roughly the same size in wall BB which opened to the exterior on the north side (fig. 1. 8–9). The north-south axis of wall BC is continued in room 37 by two columns with a diameter of 63 cm and an intercolumnium of 1.9 m. The northern column is followed at a distance of 86 cm by a row of three square pillars which runs to the south of outer wall BB at a distance of 80 cm. A small taboun built against the servants’ staircase and wall I stands in the southwest corner of the room.
A look at Fig. 1 clearly shows that in its original state the room had none of the supports shown in the plan, for the southern columns block access to the door in the northwest and one of the three pillars on the northeastern long side obstructs the exterior door in wall BB. An approximate terminus post quem for the parts incorporated at a later stage is provided by the findings from the two door areas. The data which have yet to be discussed from the area of the exterior doors in the northeast, and the finds from the partly dismantled walling-up of the northwest doors, both suggest that the door closing devices date from the early 2nd century AD, i. e. construction phase 2. All the described supports incorporated at a later stage were built directly on the floor of sandstone slabs, which did not jeopardise stability since the rock surface was only a short distance below the floor. In the destruction horizon of 363 (Abs. 2, FK 3460; Abs. 3, FK 3467), an unusually large number of tile fragments (several 100 kg) was found in the zone between the supports and wall BB, which suggests that the supports in room 37 carried a tile-covered gallery. The relatively high proportion of brick fragments must have been incorporated in the upper parts of the pillars or is attributable to brick-built structures at storey level.
Fig. 8: Northeast corner of the mansion with room 37 seen facing south from square 90/AI (photo: D. Keller)
It has not yet been established why the small taboun from the last occupation phase in the southeast corner of the room was built on a layer of ash 40 cm thick which extended 1.5 m into the room, or in which connection the ash came to be in the room.
In squares 87/AK–AL and 88/AJ, the rubble was cleared to the level of the 4th century, which, in combination with the evidence in 86/AN (see below) gave an idea of the 4th century level along the east facade. The 4th-century surface is particularly well preserved in square 88/AJ, where a layer of stone chips a few centimetres thick with added loam descends steadily in a southerly direction from the northern corner of the house (Fig. 9). At the corner of the outer walls I/BB the layer has a surface level of 924.56 m above sea level. Surprisingly, in the adjacent square 89/AJ there is no evidence that the layer extends along the main facade to the northwest or of the existence of a wall or stair construction. (cf. Fig. 9). The bedrock surface which was reached in 89/AJ, Abs. 5 runs just over 50 cm below the level of the layer with values of approx. 923.90–924.00 m above sea level, and the finds (FK 3530) indicate that it was still walked upon in the 4th century.
Fig. 9: The exterior level of the 4th century AD and room 37, viewed facing southwest (photo: D. Keller)
At this point we must again consider the possible course taken along the north facade of the mansion by the road mentioned at the outset. In the original state of the building, room 37 opened with a wide door (opening width approx. 1.3 m) onto the zone of the presumed road in front of the north facade The door was probably walled up as part of the measures to consolidate the structures after the stated earthquake in the 2nd century AD. . Due to the extensive destruction of wall BB in the earthquake of 363, the level of the outer threshold can be only approximately stated as 925.00 m above sea level (cf. Fig. 8). Immediately to the north of wall BB, a levelled, strip-like structure of flat stones and ample quantities of earthy filling material runs for a distance of just under 5 metres along the main facade (level approx. 924.65–70 m above sea level). Two details are of significance: 1. A thin stratum of ash divides the cross-section of the structure into two layers. 2. At the level of the western door post, a small architectural block with a finely worked Lesbian cyma protrudes from the profile beneath the ash (marked with arrow in Fig. 8). The outlined findings suggest to us that the architectural block broke away from its original place in the architectural decor of the north facade in the earthquake of the early 2nd century AD which has already been repeatedly referred to, and came to rest in front of the door to room 37. The overlying thin layer of ash can be attributed to the same event. From the location in which the block was found we can deduce the „street level“ in the early 2nd century, and arrive at a figure of approx. 924.50 m above sea level. The difference in level between the outside/street level and the door of room 37 must accordingly have been roughly 50 cm – a height that is quite possible in the private architecture of Petra Kolb 2000: 254. . In this zone, the same is confirmed as was established a year earlier for the area to the north of the main entrance: in the last phase of use the surface of the access path was completely torn away except for the above-mentioned narrow strip along the facade. In view of this fact it is and remains unclear how the building was linked with the much higher 4th-century level in square 88/AJ which is discussed above.
Squares 86–87/AN were cleared down to the bedrock in order on the one hand to obtain a reference for the course of the rock on the east side of the terrace, and on the other hand in order to establish whether traces of a stair construction are preserved directly beneath the narrow door of room 16 (cf. Fig. 1). It can be seen from Fig.10 that in the rock flank which falls away irregularly and steeply to the east there is an entrenched gulley – probably a drainage canal – which originates 15 metres further to north in a shallow basin at the foot of house corner I/BB (cf. Fig. 9) and follows the east facade in a southward direction at an average distance of 30 cm.
Fig. 10: Square 86/AW: view facing southwest of the steeply downward-sloping rock with drainage canal in front of the east facade I (photo: D. Keller)
In square 87/AN, despite the large height difference of 1.35 m between the door threshold in wall I and the exposed rock, no evidence could be found of stairs leading down from the door of kitchen 16. In view of the narrow door opening (0.5 m) and the lack of evidence of an outside staircase, a customary use for the door can be ruled out – it may have served for the disposal of kitchen or other waste.
Stratigraphic excavation in square 86/AN unexpectedly brought useful data on the history of the mansion’s construction phases and destruction. The ash deposit in Abs. 2 with FK 3524 and 3533 provided clear indications as to the final destruction in 363. A further chronological „bar line“ – a somewhat vaguely defined construction phase 2 in various parts of the terrace in the late 1st or 2nd century AD – received clear confirmation in the form of a thin layer of ash. The lamp and glass finds from the associated FK 3546 date homogeneously from the 2nd century AD, and confirm the assumption of a moderately severe (not historically documented) earthquake that led to the structural repairs observed in various places and the renewal of a number of interior decorations. The last-mentioned FK also included a small series of painting and stucco cornice fragments which will be of great value in the coming reconstruction of the two-phase wall and ceiling decorations. In other words, the stratigraphy in square 86/AN enabled the most important events in the constructional history of EZ IV to be more clearly visualised than was the case in any other part of the terrace.
