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July 2003-July 2010InteractiveDig Sagalassos
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The second-century A.D. stratigraphy behind the back wall of the cistern below the sixth-century A.D. guards' station in the northeast corner of the Lower Agora

Photos courtesy Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project. Click on images to enlarge.
by Marc Waelkens

Lower Agora: July 10-14, 2005

During this campaign, no excavations will take place on the Lower Agora. Only the conservation of some damaged structures will continue. However, an archaeological intervention had to be carried out inside the "guards' station" established during the sixth century A.D. immediately to the north of the original East Portico of the square (see reports of Lower Agora 2003). This station was composed of three rooms located at a higher level, one of them covering a cistern at the level of the portico, at that time already transformed into a thermopolion (a restaurant serving hot drinks) in the north-eastern corner of the Agora. Behind the partially collapsed northern wall of the cistern, an interesting profile of ca. 1.30 m high and 2 m wide was discovered at the beginning of the campaign. After a long winter the soil had dried out and thus it was possible to distinguish many different layers. Because the number of profiles from the Lower Agora is very limited, we decided to document this one very carefully. Bart De Graeve (KULeuven) identified ten layers under the slabs that are part of Room 1 above it. Especially interesting were some thin substrates that probable are the remains of ancient street levels and the remains of two water pipes. A large amount of pottery was sampled from the different layers that will allow us to establish a good chronology. The upper levels are provisionally dated to the middle of the second century A.D. Therefore, it seems likely that they are connected with the construction of the Romans Baths situated a few meters east of Room 5 and the paving of the street to the west of it.

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