EH III

(fig. 55)

(Tara Bowen-Biggs, 1993)

Fig. 55: EH III, plan and section.

Objectives

EH III was one of the four trenches designed to define the limits of the tower. It was situated on the north side of the tower.

Dimensions

The trench measured 2 x 2m., and in practice its excavation consisted in the cleaning of the visible walls.

Stratigraphy

The earliest wall, 1, was built of limestone blocks in a white-gray mortar, neatly coursed and faced on the outer face: the inner face was not visible within the excavation. The core of the wall contained small stones, pebbles, and some Roman tile, and the whole was preserved to a height of 106.60m. above sea level (roughly the same height as that observed in EH I). This was buttressed by a second wall, 2.75m. wide, whose construction was slightly more regular than that of 1 (pl. 39). A slight outward curve towards the eastern edge of the trench may suggest some structural feature: comparison with similar towers at Tuscania suggests that the door to the tower would have been found on an upper story, and it may be that the buttressing wall was thickened at this point to support an entrance platform or ladder seating.

There was little destruction rubble in this area, and it seems that the whole of the tower collapsed in another direction, probably to the west and south.