Descriptive Attribute	Value(s)
Abuts	Loci 6, 7, 25.
Stage	Stage 2
Top (m)	Opening elevation: 896.898 m.
Size	ca. 33.0 m north south-by-ca. 1.50 m east west.
Underlies	Loci 1, 4.
Phase Description	Phase IV: Nabataean Grand Design: 1st c. BCE to CE 1st c. The full Lower Temenos is constructed, complete...
Overlies	Loci 12, 31, 32.
Stage Description	Main construction of the West Cryptoporticus.
Preserved Height	ca. 3.20 m.
Description	The East Boundary Wall of the West Cryptoporticus East is well preserved, showing only a few signs of disrepair near the extant top portions that were damaged during the collapse events. Positioned in the wall were 25 arch springers (including those reconstructed at the south end following the excavation of Trench 79) corresponding to those found positioned in the Middle Pier Wall (Locus 11). Vault Locus 12 is constructed into and bonded with the west face of Locus 28 between the 12th and 13th arch springers. As with Locus 11, two types of construction are evident in the wall. Visible to 1.00–1.25 m above the West Cryptoporticus East floor (Locus 25) there are four courses of large hewn ashlars in an irregular header and stretcher arrangement, interspersed with a sporadic use of hewn snecking stones, laid using a wet-mortar technique. Vault Locus 12 is inserted into these four visible courses. From about the 10th arch springer towards the south, the lower three courses of this construction begins to jut increasingly outwards toward the west. The resulting extrusion reaches an approximate maximum width of 0.60 m. at the point where it turns west at the East-West Retaining Wall. (This feature also was excavated by Martha Sharp Joukowsky in 2001, see the descriptions for Loci 26 and 22 in the Trench 79 Final Report for more details.) The only new observation offered here is that the section of this feature which extends southward between the 10th and 3rd arch springers appears to result from a variance in the alignments of these lower ashlar courses and the overlying construction of Locus 28 above the string course described below. This portion of the extrusion appears to result from a slight change in the alignment of the East Boundary Wall superstructure. Moreover, at the north edge of the 3rd arch springer in Locus 28 there are indications of a possible join in the construction of the feature described as the North South “Bench” (Trench 79, Locus 26). At this point the extrusion measures approximately 0.30 m in width. It appears that the last couple of north south meters of this “Bench,” and the entire east west section, were separately constructed and merely joined to the original variance in the lower courses of the East Boundary Wall. Above these ashlar courses is a stringcourse, approximately 0.12 m in height, consisting of small hewn field stones laid in the mortar. Like that in Locus 11, this string course extends the length of Locus 28, except where it is interrupted by the curvature of the entrance arch of Vault Locus 12; the areas around this intersection of the vault and the string course are solidly filled with hewn snecking stones. This string course is surmounted by a single header and stretcher ashlar course consisting of the largest stones in the wall face, ranging between 0.45m and 0.50 m in height, laid with wet-mortar without snecking stones. The second row of this course, between the west face of the wall and the strip of sandy fill (Locus 7), consists of some massive hewn ashlars laid north south; none of these could be accurately measured due to remnants of overlying courses, however, some of these blocks appear to be greater than 1.00 m in length and more than 0.50 m in width. The west edge of this course served as the architectural support for the arch springers, many of which are still in situ. Other than the portion of the East Boundary Wall described in Locus 18, very little from the top courses of the wall have survived. Toward the south half of Locus 28 there is a partial course of ashlars laid as east west headers; the east ends of this course appear to overlie the strip of sandy fill (Locus 7) and abut the west face of the West Lower Temenos Retaining Wall (Locus 6) rather than bond to it. (See also discussion of Loci 6, 12, 31, and 32 for further details relating to the interaction of the architectural elements.)
Definition	East Boundary Wall of the West Cryptoporticus East
Combined with	Loci 6, 7, 11, 12, 14, 18, 31, and 32.
Phase	IV
Location	East perimeter of Trench 97.
Bonds to	Loci 12, 18, 31, and 32.
Bottom (m)	Closing elevation: 893.723 m.
Architectural or Soil Locus?	Architectural