Structural Description (part 5)

Morphology of the Chamber

The chamber can be morphologically reduced to a parallelepiped shape that once measured 236 x 216 x 76 cm, with the maximal length oriented east to west. The detailed measurements of the chamber walls are reported in the following table (Tab. 4):

Tab. 4: Dimensions of chamber walls.

Although some general architectural scheme was applied for the construction of the chamber walls, we have to notice that each wall has features of its own. The sloping ground on which the platform is built was the main factor determining the layout of the walls.

The “northern chamber wall”, as we said, is quite low, rising only 35-40 cm above ground (Fig. 21). On the other hand, he is located at the highest slope point of the construction, just above the deepest part of the pit dugout. He is built partly over the natural sediment to the north, and partly over vertical stone slabs placed against the northern dugout flank (Fig. 20, meter 3). Overall, as we observe its elevation from within the chamber, we notice that its height of 100 cm is approximately equal to its southern counterpart (Fig. 22).

The southern chamber wall is built as a real dry-stone wall averaging 100 cm in height (Fig. 22). In the chamber, the builders also placed vertical stone slabs against its base, but in this case, those vertical elements are not supporting wall stones like in the northern wall (Fig. 20, meters 5-6).

The eastern and western chamber walls are similar in construction, although the western wall shows better arranged vertical slabs along its base (Fig. 23). We also notice that the six vertical flat stones support the above lying construction. The lengths of the stones used to build the western wall are averaging 30 cm at mid-height and become long and flat toward the roof level.

Fig. 21

Fig. 22

Fig. 23