Agora Deposit: J 2:18
Title:   Well in the South Section of Room E in the Byzantine Building East of the North-South Road
Supervisor:   Marcie Handler
Category:   Well
Description:   Located in the south section of Room E in the Byzantine Building east of the North-South Road. The uppermost 1.5 meters of well lining was built of well-coursed stones (some reused marble blocks) and tiles. Below, the well was lined with two courses of terracotta rings with footholds. Under the terracotta lining, only the north and west sides of the lining were preserved, where it was constructed of rubble and tiles.
Only one post-period-of-use fill (dated to the 12th century AD) was excavated before we reached the level where the lining had collapsed in antiquity and had to stop digging.
The later phase of the well, a Byzantine well-lining and well-head, was excavated during the 2001 season (BZ XXV p. 4953, Lot BZ 1217) and the Roman catchment basin and well-lining down to the level of the terracotta lining were excavated during the 2002 season (BZ XXVII pp. 5279 & 5285 for the catchment basin; BZ XXVII p. 5293 for the Roman well-lining).
During the 2003 season, we dismantled the terracotta lining and packing fill of the original construction phase of the well, leaving in situ the section of the well lining that was still in tact on the northeast side of the well (at an elevation of 51.973 masl and below). We removed two courses of terracotta lining from the top of the well, and excavated the packing fill behind it to reveal the original cutting for the well. The packing fill for the well consisted almost entirely of fragments of tegulae mammatae (133 were found in the packing fill from 50.657 to 53.001 masl), which gives the destruction of the bath to the southwest in 395/6 AD as a terminus post quem for the original construction phase of the well.
Contents:   Coins:
12 July 2001 #1162
25 July 2001 #1182-#1183
23 July 2002 #1304
Chronology:   12th c. A.D.
Date:   6-30 July 2001
23-25 July 2003
Section:   ΒΖ
Grid:   J/14-2/2
    J/13,15-1/2,3
Elevation:   53.961-50.62m.
Masl:   50.620-53.961m.
References:   Report: 2002 Excavations
Report: 2001 Excavations
Images (14)