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Descriptive Attribute Value(s)
Stage Description Main construction of the Bath Complex.
Overlies Floor, (no locus assigned), a secondary floor of unhewn ashlars, set 0.06 m above what may be the original floor.
Underlies Locus 21, the fill and debris covering the South Rooms, Chambers 1-5.
Preserved Height 2.30 m.
Stage Stage 2
Top (m) Opening elevation: 901.659 m.
Location Between Chambers 2 (Locus 47 and Chamber 4 (Locus 49) of the S Rooms.
Bonds to The squared ashlar installation for hypocausts, Locus 29.
Combined with All the loci of the S Rooms Chambers 1-5 Bath complex.
Phase Description Phase VI: Late Nabataean pre-CE 106 minor collapses and repairs. At this time the northwest subterranean...
Cuts None.
Size 1.60 m north south-by- 2.00 m east west.
Description The north wall is composed of four wet-laid rows of charred and reused ashlars, 2.17 m in height. The north wall also has a niche 1.69 m in height-by-1.03 m in width and 0.99 m in depth. Its upper courses, approximately 0.85 m in depth, are covered with plaster. This wall has five courses of ashlars set in mortar. West of the niche is an elongated offset measuring 0.52 m between two doorjambs. The west doorjamb is parallel to the Locus 29 shelf. Dividing chamber 3 from chamber 4 is a door 1.54 m in width. Canalization pipes in situ can be seen in the upper wall. It appears that the upper floor in this room is set 1.23 m above the floor. A later floor fragment of irregular stones extends from the south wall, and under this floor are rectangular tiles with similar measurements to bricks 23.5 m-by-0.12 m-by-0.02 m in height. The south wall has a row of ashlars set as headers in the west, against which the kiln-like structure rests (see below and Locus 3). The superstructure is of stone and copious amounts of cement. In the east wall is a doorway 1.00 m in preserved height. The west wall provides a west access to Chamber 2 having only the stub of a doorway with the shared Locus 29 ashlar shelf for the hypocaust system. This wall measures 2.55 m in east west width; its lowest levels are more robust in construction with four good well-laid courses measuring 0.86 m in height, above which there are ashlars of odd sizes that were not laid in regular courses. This is an interesting room with what appears to be a kiln structure 3.80 m in depth in its south wall that may have been constructed on its walls after the Caldarium (which we assume this room served), went out of use. This would seem to suggest that the chamber went out of use as a bath Caldarium and have been filled with debris when the kiln was inserted. The walls of his room are patchy, but appear to be stable. Similar to other walls of this complex, the walls are set in two rows with a mud and cement mortar jumble in between, acting as the bonding agent. The north wall has abundant plaster over the courses, but we assume that three courses were present. The south has five courses beside the kiln structure of Locus 3. In the east there are three courses in the north doorway and five courses remain in the south doorway. The west wall has the opening to Chamber 4. The bath system seems to have been planned as a single unit and it appears that it is on the same axis of orientation as the Great Temple, northwest to southeast. This locus along with others of the bath complex appears to be self-contained elements in an overall design that physically distinguish different areas of the baths.
Phase VI
Abuts A later floor (no locus assigned) of roughed-out ashlars 1.82 m north south-by-1.35 m east west.
Definition S Rooms Chamber 3
Bottom (m) Closing elevation: 899.359 m.
Architectural or Soil Locus? Architectural
Suggested Citation

Martha Sharp Joukowsky. (2007) "Locus 48 from Asia/Jordan/Petra Great Temple/Lower Temenos/Trench 127". In Petra Great Temple Excavations. Martha Sharp Joukowsky (Ed). Released: 2007-11-11. Open Context. <https://opencontext.org/subjects/f2e3c549-ff47-4ca8-8ac7-eaa605dcccbc> ARK (Archive): https://n2t.net/ark:/28722/k2542sq07

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