Structural
Description (part 8)
Peripheral Wall
Morphology
As we
stated before, the monument B3 does not only consist in the platform,
but also in an artificial sediment accumulation and a peripheral wall.
We uncovered the peripheral wall during the campaign 2000 and did not
expect such large extension of the monument.
The
shape of the peripheral wall is trapezoidal, like the platform it
subscribes. Its longest part stretches in East-West direction on a
length of 15.5 meters and about 2 meters from the southern platform
flank. The parallel side of the trapeze, located north, is about 9
meters long. Both eastern and western sides are approximately 11 meters
long.
We
already said that the monument has been built on a natural slope. Due to
this, the northern side of the peripheral wall is much less high than
both the sides and the southern wall and consists only in one or two
layers of stones. Moreover, a larger gap measuring at least 2.6 meters
was observed in the northern side (in squares C-F/97-98, see Fig. 11). It could well be
that this portion of the wall has been cut off by the mechanical shovel
during the preliminary terracing works in 1998.
The
sides of the trapezoidal peripheral wall are preserved to some extent.
Due to the natural sloping ground, they are low to the north and become
higher in their respective center. From those centers, their preserved
height is getting smaller again. In their central parts, their shape
show clear signs of outward pressure and destabilization of stones
(especially in squares Y/2-3, K/1-2, and L/3, see Fig. 11). We think that this
centrifugal pressure was due to pressure created by the progressive
compaction of the sediment fill between the platform and the peripheral
wall.
The
southern part of the peripheral wall could not be observed very clearly,
because we could not fully free it during the second campaign. It is
built on the lowest part of the natural slope and was covered by a large
volume of terraced sediment in 1998. The only area where the southern
part of the wall is clearly visible is the southwestern corner (squares
L-M/6-7). In square meter L/7, we discovered a single posthole (labeled
PH1), which surprisingly contained core remains of its wooden post or
pole (Fig. 29). The posthole is
dug about 35 cm deep and has a diameter of 11-12 cm. Five rounded
pebbles placed in vertical position surround it. The wooden remains are
34 cm high and indicate that the pole had a base diameter of 11 cm. The
pole base is nicely sawed at right angle. The posthole PH1 is precisely
located against the southern fringe of the peripheral wall.
Fig.
29
The
preserved parts of the peripheral wall were surrounded by large and
massive zones of scattered stones (Fig. 30, Fig. 31, and Fig. 32) and were thus not
immediately visible, excepting in some areas. The scatter of stones is due
to a historical collapse of the peripheral wall, which must thus have been
much higher than we initially expected. To document the height of the
preserved part of the wall, we made a cut through the scatter of collapsed
stone (along squares V-Y/3) (Fig. 33). At a later stage, we
decided to free an entire flank of the peripheral wall. We chose the
western side, since the scatter seemed less massive than along the eastern
side. The result we reached at campaign end was astonishing by the height
of preservation of the wall, which attained 100 cm in the center of the
western side (Fig. 34).
Fig.
30
Fig.
31
Fig.
32
Fig.
33
Fig.
34
