One of the pillars exposed in the Roman Baths |
The largest block ever lifted so far at Sagalassos |
Photos courtesy Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project. Click on images to enlarge. |
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by Marc Waelkens |
The Roman Baths: July 13-19, 2003
We continued excavations in both areas in the northeastern part of the huge Roman Baths this week. In the western area we removed more than a meter of debris from the collapsed vaults, but so far we have yet to expose any new wall sections. The eastern excavation section includes a large semicircular brick niche in the south wall facing a room. In this section we unearthed two new ashlar piers. An architectural survey of the eastern part of the complex indicated that the frigidarium may have been limited to a central room with an east-west orientation of which the ceiling was supported by four huge ashlar piers, measuring roughly three meters on each side. They may have surrounded a large pool (piscina) in the central part of the room. We also now know that this frigidarium was flanked by two symmetrically arranged rooms, each with a north-south orientation and a vaulted ceiling supported by two rows of three smaller (ca. 2 by 1.40 m.) ashlar piers. The latter were made of huge limestone blocks. We had to remove one of them: it was the largest stone ever lifted by a crane at Sagalassos, weighing more than eight tons!
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