In a continuous effort to improve the site for the visitors, even if excavation is continuing for several more seasons, we again focussed on the restoration of the huge staircase (R8 on fig. 1). In Nabataean times, the rock was not directly used but stone slabs were put on the rock in order to form steps. However, beside the first one, all of these steps had disappeared in later times. We started restoring the first steps of the staircase several years ago and continued this year adding two more massive steps of stones, fixing them with lime mortar imitating the Nabataean technique of mixing small pottery fragments into the mortar in order to improve its hydraulic quality (Fig. 25).
Fig. 25: Restoration in staircase (photo: S. G. Schmid)Fig. 26: Restoration of small water basin (photo: S. G. Schmid)
Another attempt of restoration was made in the case of the small water basin found in the N-corner of the complex (cf. above). Here, besides potsherds, ashes were also added to the mortar (Fig. 26).
