Descriptive Attribute	Value(s)
Stage Description	Major destruction resulting in column collapse in the East Triple Colonnade.
Description	The plaster in Locus 5 was almost certainly deposited where it was found when the column to which it was originally attached to collapsed. That the plaster has not been disturbed is indicated by the shape in which it was found: rounded exactly as it would have been attached to the column. This would most likely have been during one of the major earthquakes. It was probably during the late, Bedouin, agricultural period that the column associated with the plaster of Locus 5 (and the other columns that were once on the stylobate) was robbed out. A large deposit of molded plaster was found in the south of the trench, protruding from the west balk. Much of it had fallen in such a way that it was possible to see how it had originally been attached and to reconstruct large sections of it once they had been removed. It was well-photographed both in the earth during the uncovering and once it had been removed. It was originally thought that the plaster might be part of a molded column capital but this hypothesis was revised when the plaster was removed and seen to be the same as some of the remaining ribbed plaster that is found on columns in the Upper Temenos. The dirt surrounding the plaster deposit was extremely hard. Perhaps it was packed during the fall of the column to which it had been attached. Two architectural fragments were found in association with Locus 5. Both were limestone carved pieces of capital, probably from the same column to which the plaster had belonged.
Surrounded by	Locus 2, soil.
Phase	XI XII X IX XIII
Stage	Stage 3
Phase Description	Phase XII: Use levels, robbing and abandonments continue. Phase X: Site abandonment post major collapse dating to the Byzantine period from the CE 4th to 5th c.... Phase XI: Further collapse post- CE 5th c., possibly the result of the earthquake of CE 512. Major collapses... Phase IX: Major CE 363 earthquake leads to the collapse of the West Colonnade directly on top of the... Phase XIII: Major collapses continue into the Islamic period.
Definition	Plaster.
Architectural or Soil Locus?	Architectural