After completing the time at Antiochia ad Cragum, several conclusions and hypotheses can be drawn about the Great Bath, room 5. The team previously uncovered a large wooden beam in the middle of the unit that may reveal the room’s purpose sometime after the Romans. While the beam is likely from a completely different era than the rest of the unit, conclusions will not be complete until the wood is tested and carbon-dated. The previous archaeologists predicted GB5 may have been a storage room, however, due to recent artifact discoveries, experts theorize it could have had at least several renovations over the years and decades. While excavating the Eastern wall of unit GB5, there were massive amounts of glass shards that were revealed with each pass. There were shards of all colors, mainly the light blue natural glass, yellow glass shards, and brown pieces, many of which had a patina coating their surfaces. Several larger pieces came up, which makes us expand our hypothesis to the room having windows along at least the Eastern wall. Another hypothesis can be made from glass shards being towards the middle and closer to the back Northern wall. There was likely an earthquake that destroyed a taller window from an upper story, which might explain why there were a plethora of glass shards within the back half of the unit. Maybe the most notable features of the unit were revealed within one of the last days of excavation. A fully intact amphora lodged between flat rocks in the Northwest corner was uncovered along with a wide, also fully intact pipe estimated to be about 5 feet long. This reveals that excavation made it past floor level and that the amphora is aligned exactly with the length of the pipe. Typically amphoras like this one may have been used for oil or wine storage; however, the pipe leading up to it changes that hypothesis to what might be a water pipe. Along the western wall lies a wall or platform that forms the shape of a semicircle, which is quite a curious find. If all these rooms surrounding the great bath and caldarium had some kind of purpose to the baths, then could GB5 have been used as a shower room? The semicircular platform could have been an area to rinse off after time in the bath, and the pipe discovered would have been drainage or a water source from that shower. Other notable finds that help shape hypotheses about unit GB5 are from the six coins that were found scattered around the unit. Each coin looked to be from a slightly different era. One that stood out was a coin found near the pipe and between the back northern wall. It looked to be very corroded and rusted, possibly from being so close to a water source. In addition, there were about seven nails that were also discovered in the unit. It is interesting to note that each nail was found near the others and within the same locus, making it easier to make a hypothesis about the year and era in which an earthquake occurred. As work continued in room five, this team of excavators began finding more and more evidence that may suggest what the room could have been used for and how the room changed throughout the decades that it had been active. Something that remained constant throughout the entire time of excavation was the lack of antiquities uncovered throughout the entirety of the Southern half of the unit, which may suggest that it was used for something entirely different than the back Northern half of the unit. There were several wall discoveries that divide the unit in half, one of which was a wall that was added as an addition to the room. This unit, along with the other units making up the Great Bath, was in a very unique position, as excavation was expedited in an effort to finish before the site turned into a museum. As an archaeologist on the Great Bath project, I hope that the site is restored in a way that helps future generations and scientists understand how the space changed over the years. How has it changed now that it is a museum, and was it preserved in a way that was not destructive to the original site?
