C084: Baba Dağı Quarries

Page reference: Christopher Ratté and Peter D. De Staebler (eds.). Aphrodisias V. The Aphrodisias Regional Survey (Verlag Philipp von Zabern: Darmstadt/Mainz, 2012), 200, 201 - Book catalogue no.: Quarries cat. 7. <http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/92729>

C084

Quarries4: Roman

Local Name: South slope of ridge between Ayakliçeşme Tepe and Akçasöğüt TepeLatitude: 37.42.37.020Longitude: 28.55.05.547Elevation: 2007.7mDimensions: Quarry 1: 69 m3 ** Quarry 2: 29 m3 ** Quarry 3: 95 m3 ** Quarry 4: 78 m3 ** Quarry 5: 30 m3 ** Quarry 6: 117 m3 ** Quarry 7: 69 m3 ** Quarry 8: 68 m3 ** Quarry 9: 176 m3 ** Quarry 10: 340 m3 ** Quarry 11: 170 m3 ** Quarry 12: 105 m3 ** Quarry 13: 35 m3 ** Quarry 14: 62 m3 ** Quarry 15: 52 m3 ** Capacity: ca. 750 m3; ninth largest quarry complexDescription: Location: In the saddle between Ak Baba Dağı and Kara Baba Dağı peaks on the southern slope of a precipitous ridge between Ayakliçeşme Tepe and Akçasöğüt Tepe; 17 km from Aphrodisias. Elevation 2,010 masl. Only accessible by foot; the easiest approach is by a forestry road that passes by the small villages of Koyuncular and Yağlılar and continues through pine forests before it terminates at the foot of Karacaören Tepe. The climb to the quarries is a steep ascent for 3.5 km through the deeply cut Dangaz Dere. Alternatively, it is also possible to walk from the base of the summit of Ak Baba Dağı across the long ridge toward Kara Baba Dağı for about two hours before dropping down to the quarries. The site offers a dramatic view over the western pass at Yahşiler and beyond to the open plain of Tabae. This mountaintop quarry is identifiable by the large blocks and columns strewn about the quarry pits. The actual quarries are more difficult to see because of the rugged terrain, and one must stand almost directly on top of a pit to identify it individually. ** Number and dimensions of quarries: 15 small pits are scattered down the slope in a straight line, with 368 m between the uppermost and lowest. Pits 1–5, 7–8, and 13–15 are ca. 0.50 m deep and are less than 100 m2 in surface area. The largest pits, Quarries 6 and 9–12, are more than 2 m deep and have surface areas between 100 and 200 m2. ** Geological age, grain size, and color: Mesozoic. Medium to coarse grained. Thinly bedded and weakly metamorphosed breccia; surface is weathered and friable. Dark blue-gray color, interspersed with large white clasts. While the marble is of the same geological age and formation as that quarried on the south side of the valley, it differs in both appearance and texture. Continual exposure to mountaintop storms may contribute to rough and pockmarked character of the stone. At Baba Dağı the blue-gray color is grayer than the Paleozoic marble at Yazır, and it is brecciated rather than mottled. ** Modern quarrying: None. ** Joints and quality of marble: Joint spacing appears to range from 1.0 m to 1.5 m, but one abandoned column is 3.70 m long, so the marble quality is high. As also observed in the Çamarası Quarry, a small pit could yield a large block if the bed struck upon was homogenous and thick. ** Quarry organization and evidence for extraction: Majority of pits are V-shaped in plan with two quarry faces; several are bowl-shaped, and one is square. Very little debris is deposited in or around quarries, as erosion carried most scree down the slope. Evidence for ancient working is limited to pickmarks on the floors and faces of Quarries 8–10 and an unfinished wedge hole with point-chisel marks in Quarry 14. ** Blocks: Eight large, rectilinear unfinished blocks abandoned in quarries. The blocks were cut with stepped surfaces on one or two sides and were intended as wall veneer. Eleven unfinished columns are concentrated in the largest pits, Quarries 5 and 8–10. The columns vary in length (1.56 m to 3.70 m) and in diameter (0.36 m to 0.70 m); two sets of paired "bundled" columns are also preserved (L: 1.97 m, Diam: 0.80 m; and L: 1.20 m, Diam: 0.84 m). Multiple columns were sometimes roughed out from a single large block and left bundled to protect them from breakage during transport; the columns would later be separated and finished on-site.Finds: Roughed Column Fragment: Preserved Height: 2.40m; Base Diameter: 0.50m ** Roiughed Double Engaged Half Column: Height: 2.13m; Width: 0.59m ** Roughed Column Fragment 2: Preserved Height: 1.79m; Top Diameter: 0.46m ** Roughed Column Fragment 3: Height: 2.14m; Base Diameter: 0.645m ** Roughed Coumn Fragment 4: Height 1.85m; Base Diameter: 0.43m ** Colonette Fragment: Preserved Height: 1.56m; Base Diameter: 0.36m ** Large Roughed Pier/ Column Fragment: Height: 3.83m; Width: 0.71m; Depth: 0.64m ** Roughed Column 5: Preserved Height: 1.56m; Diameter: 0.46m Mostly grey marble, found in 2nd to last quarry down slope ** Bundled Monolithic Columns 1: Width: 0.80m; Height: 1.97m ** Bundled Monolithic Columns 2: Width: 0.84m Preserved Height: 1.20m"Larger Curiously Shaped Block" see sketch

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