Item: Locus 31
Class: Locus
Number of Views: 6
Project: Petra Great Temple Excavations
Context (click to view):
Description (10 properties)
| Size | West 4.30 m-by-south-by-3.100 m-by-east: 4.50 m. | |
| Bottom (m) | Closing Depth: None. | |
| Abuts | None. | |
| Underlies | None. | |
| Definition | Bedrock cut floor for Cave 1 | |
| Top (m) | Opening Depth: N: 906.995 m; Center: 907.215 m; S: 907.315 m. | |
| Overlies | None. | |
| Description | This would have been the floor for Cave 1. It is not an evenly cut floor; instead, the floor slopes at a decline from north to south. One interesting feature about this floor is that it has two rock-cut channels. At first we thought these might have been used for transporting water, because we later found out that this would have been impossible, considering that both of them lead nowhere. One of them comes out of the eastern bedrock wall and slopes down into the center of the cave, where the bedrock levels out. The most reasonable explanation for the existence of this channel is that it was used as part of a technique to cut bedrock floors. This process began with the manual leveling of the bedrock. Rock-cutters would then carve channels into the parts of the roughly dressed floor where the bedrock sloped upwards. Afterwards, they would fill these with water and would hammer in very strong boards of wood, maybe juniper. As the wood absorbed the water, it would expand and eventually flake off the sloping segment of the bedrock. If this were the case with this channel, this would indicate that the bedrock floor was never fully finished, even though the cave was probably used, at least for a short amount of time. Another channel, identified as Locus 66, starts at the center of the cave and slopes down into the Locus 20 wall where it ends abruptly and then continues under the Locus 20 wall. This channel, in connection with Loci 50 and 52 above, probably served as part of water catchments at some point. | |
| Location | Inside Locus 30 Cave 1. | |
| Bonds to | None. |
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Suggested Citation:
Martha Sharp Joukowsky, Emma Susan Libonati, José I. Fusté. "Petra Great Temple Excavations: Locus 31 (Locus)" (Released 2007-11-12). Martha Sharp Joukowsky (Ed.) Open Context. <http://opencontext.org/subjects/EAD22E1E-574F-42E3-8D3D-FDF457944D3F>
Linked Items (5 items)
Locus 17 ( overlies )
Locus 18 ( overlies )
Locus 29 ( overlies )
Locus 4 ( overlies )
Locus 40 ( overlies )
Associated People (3 items)
Martha Sharp Joukowsky ( Editor ) , Emma Susan Libonati ( Observer ) , José I. Fusté ( Observer )
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