On the upper terrace of the Wadi al-Farasa East the main monuments such as the huge cistern and the so-called „Garden Triclinium“ are today somewhat removed from their ancient context. In antiquity many built structures, of which some scanty remains are still visible, integrated these single installations into a complete system of buildings and structures.
During the 2000 season of the IWFP, sounding 7 was opened in front of the huge retaining wall of the cistern On this area see Schmid 2000: 339. 342ff. .
Fig. 17: Trench 7 on upper terrace from above before clearing (photo: S. G. Schmid)
Immediately in front of the cistern there is a basin that was partially visible when the first travellers visited Petra in the early 19th century. Also visible was a water spout at what was believed to be the bottom of the basin. Clearance of that part revealed, however, that this was not the bottom of the basin and that further down there was a second water spout feeding the basin (Fig. 17–19).
Fig. 18: Trench 7 after clearing showing two water basins in front of cistern (photo: S. G. Schmid)
The higher spout is on the same level as a rock-cut water channel that leads the water out of the basin. A direct connection between them is missing but a curved stone-cut fragment of a water canalization was found in the debris in front of the basin that may have belonged to this installation. The sand and debris collected inside the basin were removed by 60 cm but the bottom was not reached; the depth of the basin must have been considerable and may have corresponded to the height of the retaining wall in front of it, that is about 1.7 m according to the visible remains (Fig. 20).
Fig. 19: Retaining wall of cistern on upper terrace with two water spouts (photo: S. G. Schmid)
The debris in front of the basin reached a height of roughly 1.7 m and was cleared first. This revealed a second, smaller basin in front of the first one measuring 3.1 m x 1.0 m at the inside (figs. 18. 20). To the east of the small basin towards the „Garden Triclinium“ there is a structure built of stone slabs which may either connect the two monuments or may have been used as a kind of pedestal to get water from the basin. The the bigger and the smaller basin are connected to each other by the rock-cut water channel referred to above and by a small spout in the retaining wall of the big basin. It is not yet clear whether the big basin was accessible or whether people used the small basin to fetch water. The area to the west of the small basin has not yet been completely cleared and it could be there that steps lead to the upper basin.
Fig. 20: Retaining wall of basin in front of cistern on upper terrace (photo: S. G. Schmid)
The construction of the huge basin – or at least its final phase – can be dated to the second or third quarter of the 1st century AD by a painted potsherd embedded in the hydraulic plaster Schmid 2000: 343 fig. 16. . The fill of the small basin contained quite a lot of pottery that covers a chronological range from the 1st to the 4th century AD. Whether the small basin ceased to function as a water reservoir after the 4th century AD will be known after excavation has been completed. The crusader occupation of the Wadi al-Farasa East (see above) makes it probable that at least the big cistern was still in use considerably later than the 4th century AD.
