The southwest corner of the Lower Agora. The covering slabs of the newly discovered sewage system can be seen in front of the late Roman addition (brick and mortared rubble) to the baths' facade. (See larger image.) |
Photos courtesy Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project. Click on images to enlarge. |
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by Marc Waelkens |
Lower Agora: July 25-29, 2004
Right now, we are only excavating the southwest corner of the Lower Agora intermittently using the same archaeologists who are tackling the Hadrianic Nymphaeum. There, more of the earthquake debris from the partially collapsed late Roman addition was removed. The debris, brick and mortared rubble, contained an arched door between two arched windows, which preceded the second-century vaults that had carried the actual bath section. The arched door had supported a new heating place (praefurnium) for caldarium (hot room) 1. At the same time we retrieved several new consoles belonging to the original southwest corner of the baths. After removing two layers of earthquake debris, we partially exposed a large sewage system that was connected to the public lavatory. It was at ground level in the southwest corner of the baths and to the north of the street separating the East Portico of the Lower Agora from the Roman Baths. The sewage system is covered with large limestone slabs, and it must have evacuated material from the southwest corner of the septic trench running along the lavatory's walls. Thus, the function is similar to another sewer that was discovered a few years ago below the street itself and was connected to the lavatory's northwest corner. The large drainage system, exposed last year below the East Portico (see Field Notes 2003, Lower Agora, August 3-9), probably carried excess rainwater from the upper city's streets to flush the whole sewage system.
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