This is a shoring wall in space 85 that is abutting the west wall (F. 636) of bldg. 3 It is made of rubble and has a top face made smooth by th emortar.
The function of the wall is not apparent. It could be a shoring wall for F. 636, but it could also be a wall of a shed or other flimsy construction erected in the courtyard/open space (space 85).
SM notes in 2003:
As we removed few top rubbley layers we hit regular square bricks grey and brown in colour - not having construction of a proper wall, rather a construction for some other purpose: either a shoring wall as already stated or stairs-like feature that is definitely abutting west wall of space 201. Terms we used to describe material for units #8601 and #8602 were only conditional, since there were no layers of bricks, or more likely, all handy materials were used. Plaster (unit #8605) we found only in traces, not sure about the outer look of the wall F. 1001.
The mortar is brown and greasy, thick uop to 7 cm. Bricks are orange and grey in colour, not laid in any order. Section drawn on the sheet shows exactly the way wall looked like three brick courses above the bottom grey course.
Bottom grey brick dimensions are: 66x22x5-7 cm, taken separately as sample 5 of unit #8601. Bottom grey course of bricks sits directly on midden.
This wall presumably served to strengthen wall F. 636 and it appears these two were laid contemporaneously as it laid on same midden material as wall F. 636.
Wall is aligned north-south, parallel to the west wall of space 201; made up of bricks #8601 and mortar #8602. 6 courses of bricks survived at the highest (southern) bit of our wall (around 60 cm). |
