B001: Built Tomb ("Tomb of İbrahim")

Page reference: Christopher Ratté and Peter D. De Staebler (eds.). Aphrodisias V. The Aphrodisias Regional Survey (Verlag Philipp von Zabern: Darmstadt/Mainz, 2012), 323, 329. <http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/92514>

B001

Tombs4: Roman

Local Name: Aphrodisias, North NecropolisLocal Information: Field 878, north of Stadium. Regional Survey 2001 no. N1.Latitude: 37.42.46.84Longitude: 28.43.29.27Elevation: 530mAxis: ENE, 70 degreesDimensions: Overall: D: 8.48m, W: 6.84mDescription: The underground parts of this tomb are well preserved, and significant portions of the foundations for the superstructure remain as well. An opening broken through the south wall now provides access. Cleared to 1.95 m down from vaults, to approximate level of the tops of the built burial places. Lowest course of western part of superstructure also preserved. ** The subterranean space consists of an antechamber (W: 1.75 m, L: 6.55 m) and a main room (6.60 m square). The antechamber is a N-S oriented barrel vaulted space; the original entrance to the tomb was via a staircase that entered the antechamber through a doorway at the south end of the west wall, 0.65 m wide. Above the springing of the vault on the east wall are three evenly spaced squared conical air vents (0.34 m square, D: 0.74+ m). ** The main room is made up of three parallel N-S vaulted spaces (W: 1.70 m, 1.95 m, and 1.60 m; L.6.60 m) joined down the center by a fourth E-W vault (W: 1.95, L: 6.60 m); the intersections are groin vaults. The walls between the three parallel vaults are 0.60-0.65 m thick, while the wall with the antechamber is 0.75-0.80 m thick. The arched doorway between the two spaces is 0.75 m wide and is visibly off center to the south; an air vent is centered under the vault above the door ( H: 0.38 m, W: 0.40 m, D: 1.25+ m). Square piers (L: 0.95m) project into the four corners of the main room, probably an aspect of the foundations for a monumental superstructure. ** The walls are built from mortared petit appareil masonry with well-cut voussoirs for the arch between the two spaces. The average blocks in the corner piers (L: 50-64, H: 15-22, D: 20-30) are half again larger than those in the walls. The few blocks with a split face are picked for the application of plaster. Throughout, the mortar beds are scored at a sharp downward angle. The wall construction continues in a similar fashion halfway up the height of the vault, while the upper half of the vault is formed by a mortared rubble mass, poured in place. Put log holes (0.23 m square and 0.22 x 0.27 m) are seen near the apex of the vaults at the north end of the antechamber and the north end of the central vault. ** At the north end of the antechamber, a single built burial space is visible (L: 1.77 m, W: 0.95 m). The cover slab would have rested on the closing wall to the south and in a groove (H: 0.17-0.19 m, D: 0.03-0.04 m) built into the east and west walls about 1.70m below the apex of the vault. This groove is also found along the slide walls of the main room wherever it has been cleared to that depth. ** Above ground, the lowest courses of the north, west, and south walls are preserved and form a u-shape facing east. The outer face is petit appareil masonry (8.40 m by 7.60 m) and the interior face is ashlar (6.0 m x 3.40), and the whole is located above the square main room. Several of the blocks preserve clamp cuttings, but none of these align across joints between the blocks, indicating that the ashlars are reused in this context.

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