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MAREA
EGYPT
lastyear'swork.Thefifthcolumn(third
countingfromtheintersectionofthe
transversalcolonnadewiththatofthe
nave)musthavebeenremovedpresumably
becausethewallofthepastophoriumand
thenorthwallofthebasilicawerejoinedto
anarrow(0.30mthick)stonewall.The
widthoftheambulatorybetweenthe
colonnadeandthetranseptwallwas2.80
m.Theevidencepointstotheintentional
removingofthreecolumnshaftstoaplace
bytheouterwall;thiswasdonebypeople
whooccupiedthebuildingonceithad
beenabandonedasachurch.Theyerected
inthispartofthetranseptacircleofblocks
takenfromthecollapsedwallsandmeant
toprotectafire,tracesofwhicharestill
evidenttoday.
Thefloor,whichwasfound1.80-1.90m
belowthepreservedtopofthewalls,is
composedofathinlayeroflimemortar.
Similarlyasintheapse,thesectionhere
Fig.3.Capitalstrippedofcarveddecoration,
foundinthenorthernwingofthe
transept(PhotoJ.M.Kucy)
bearsnumeroustracesofdamagesand
repairs.Furtherproofofrefurbishing
comesfromtwostoneblockscoveredwith
athincoatingofmortarandbluepoly-
chromy,whichwasstrippedinorderto
repaintthewallaredcolor.Unfortunately,
itisimpossibletodeterminethedateof
theserenovations.
Aninterestingfindofacapitalwasmade
inacornerbetweenthewallofthenorth-
ernaisleandthewingofthetransept.The
topsurfaceofthecapitalmeasured0.47
by0.45m,thebottomdiameter0.26m
[Fig.3].Itwasnotornamented.Perhaps
thedecorationwasneverexecutedorelse
thedecorationwashammeredawayat
onepointinorderfortheelementtobe
painted.5
Thefillinthispartofthebasilica
yieldedonlytwocoins;6afewmarbleele-
mentsofarchitecturaldecoration,includ-
ingtwofragmentsofscreensofdifferent
thicknessfromachancelbarrier,decorated
withacross,wreathandpalmette;anacan-
thusleaffromthedecorationofacapital;
acolumnbase(dia.0.19-0.21m);part
oftheshaftofacolonette(dia.0.095m);
tilesofvariouskindsofmarble,notto
mentionapiecemadeofgreenporphyry
fromSparta.
Excavationofthenorthernbuttressof
thetranseptrevealedtracesofsuccessive
measurestakentocountertheslowdilap-
idationofthebuilding.Theprocessof
ruinationwasapparentlyduetoaconstruc-
tionaldeficiency(dometooheavyforthe
transeptwalls)orelsewastheoutcomeof
earthquake-relateddamage.
5
Especiallyifwetakeunderconsiderationthefactthatinthe5thand6thcenturyallthemarblearchitecturalelements
werebroughtfromotherbuildings,inourcasemostlikelyfromAlexandria.Itisalsopossiblethatitistheimpost
underacapitalmadetoimitateitsshape,anidiosyncrasyprevalentinByzantinearchitecture.
6
ThisandothernumismaticmaterialhasbeendepositedinSCAstoresandwillbecleanedandidentifiedinthecoming
season.
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