My mentality has gotten more optimistic. When we first started digging I was feeling annoyed because I was working so hard and it was so hot, but the deeper we go and the more we find, the more theories and ideas I have, now I’m really excited for each dig day because there’s a chance we could find something which could tell me more about what the other things we’ve found could mean.
I have gone through a few theories. At first I was thinking the room in the caldarium we were excavating wasn’t heated in the floor and maybe solely a wash room. This was based on the huge basin that sat in the middle of the room and the fact that we weren’t finding any pilae. But then we went deeper and started finding a few pilae, so that disproved my theory. Next we found these huge rocks in what looked like a pattern in the middle of the room, and that area was filled with ash and a little bit of slag. So I think after the room was repurposed there was a kiln or a furnace put there and the stones supported the weight. We have also been finding lamp fragments, massive chunks of broken mosaic, and some bronze brackets. Some of the walls in the great bath are sloped or look like they were propped back up based on the wall joints. There are also a few random ashy spots throughout the room. My new theory is that before the room was repurposed, there was an earthquake which dropped massive rocks from the walls and ceiling onto the mosaic. Because of the suspended floor, these could have definitely caved the mosaic in and destroyed it. I also think that there were lamps hung along the walls based on the brackets and lamp shards. I think during an earthquake these could have fallen off the walls and exploded into fireballs on the ground which could explain the random ashy spots throughout the room.
Next week I want to see if we can find any more big mosaic chunks to possibly have an idea of what the design on the mosaic could have been, I also want to see if there are any more big rocks around the mosaic pieces to get an idea of the exact spots of where the floor caved in.
I always get really excited every time we find bits of metal, whether it be the brackets or nails that we find. I think being able to know more about the metals they used and what different types of metals were used for could be very interesting. The brackets were especially interesting because upon first glance it was hard to identify what they were. I have heard lots of theories on what they could be. Erkin’s initial idea after we found the very first one was that it could be a tool. Candace suggested that it could have been a bracket to hold thin decorative marble sheets against the wall. I personally think they were hooks that lamps were held on.
My super wild theory is that the entire great bath was mobile, and the huge round stone that the basin was on was able to be flipped into a massive wheel and the building could be rolled around like a unicycle. My other theory is that this room was repurposed into a sword room. I have no evidence to back this up other than a gut feeling, but something I’ve learned from movies is that it is always wise to trust your gut.
