As was already the case with the other independent shrine houses previously described, no traces of a permanent floor were found internally. Instead, at least in the period immediately prior to the structure’s final destruction, S8’s interior appears to have been left partially stripped to bedrock. The uneven stone surface is broken into a series of natural pits or sinkholes; the largest of these occupies the entire northwestern third of the interior. Patches of sterile St. 4 terra rossa fill cover low spots in the bedrock, including the bottoms of the pits, to depths occasionally reaching 0.20 m. Otherwise the bedrock was left bare. If the shrine building possessed a paved floor at the time of its original construction—which would seem to have been a necessity if much interior movement was ever intended—no evidence was recovered for either its character or presence.
Plate 7. S8 Sacred House from the southwest.
In addition to the absence of a floor, the interior walls of S8 preserve no traces of stucco or painted decoration. If it were originally equipped with an interior bench similar to those discovered in Sacred Houses S5 and S7, it was removed before the final destruction.
As a consequence of these facts, virtually nothing can be inferred of S8’s original interior appearance and function. On the other hand, its final days perhaps do supply some clues, discussed below, as to use.
North Wall
In largely ruined condition, the north wall survives as a single course of foundation headers, ca. 1.30 m. long, 0.43 to 0.50 m. wide, and 0.25 m. high, set directly on bedrock. A roughly 2 m. wide gap in its western half may mark the position of a now missing secondary door; if an entry existed, it could not have been centered unless its threshold originally was inserted above foundation level, as seems more likely. The sinkhole occupying the northwestern third of S8’s interior extends through the wall gap and down the slope to the north. It was left plugged in antiquity with sterile St. 4 terra rossa fill and then leveled off with the bedrock pavement to either side by small flattish stones intended to carry the missing foundation headers.
A single broken stretcher block at the northwest corner is all that survives of the wall’s second course.
East Wall
The bedrock steps down to the north in three stages. A combination of header and stretcher blocks is used to build up the lowest two stages to the level of the bedrock lip across the rear of the building. The remainder of the east wall’s elevation is composed of a single thickness of stretchers.
Two stretchers (ca. 1.15 by 0.55 by 0.30 m.) level off the topmost rise in bedrock to bring the combined total height of the east wall’s three courses to ca. 0.90 m. All three constitute foundation courses that present today a ragged profile when viewed from outside the building. A 0.60 m. thick earth fill (E11, Tr. 1, St. 3), containing largely pre-Hellenistic artifacts, prevented their being seen prior to the earthquake.
West Wall
The southern two-thirds of the west wall’s outer face and upper surface today is partially masked by a late wall, W8, which turned west to form a retaining wall west of S8 sometime after A.D. 262. The thickness of the west wall at its base is roughly a meter. It steps down the slope in two stages. Only two courses survive of its original elevation; these are distinguished by carefully smoothed exterior block faces that contrast with the ragged outer block faces of the east wall.
The northwest corner is bonded to the north wall by a pair of parallel stretcher foundation blocks, ca. l.10 m. long, 0.50 m. wide, and 0.30 m. high, set directly on bedrock. The join at the southwest corner with the south wall is concealed by Wall W8. A single exterior line of stretchers carried by the first course makes up what remains of the west wall’s second course. In other words, the west wall mirrors its eastern counterpart by reducing to the thickness of a single stretcher course (ca. 0.50 to 0.55 m. wide) above the level of its foundation.
South Wall
Four courses of irregularly mixed headers and stretchers remain standing to a combined height of ca. l.30 m. Their foundations are set directly over bedrock except at the southeast corner where they rest on a shallow deposit of St. 4 sterile terra rossa filling a natural depression in the bedrock. As previously stated, the south wall was built to its full height at the width of two stretchers or ca. 1.10 m. to resist the weight of the earth fill piled against its rear. S8’s remaining three walls appear to have risen above their respective foundations at a thickness of a single stretcher course or ca. 0.60 m.
The average block proportions of S8 are 1:3.7.
Elevation
A number of fragmentary architectural blocks were excavated in the general vicinity of S8. None were found directly associated with it, i.e., inside or part of its walls. Two of the potentially most interesting (Arch. Cat. I:3; I:6) came to light down the slope of the Middle Sanctuary in the earthquake-strewn zone between the expedition’s Decauville railway line and the main retaining wall, T20. Assuming that the latter pieces rolled to their final destinations during one of the two earthquakes responsible for wrecking the sanctuary, they may have been part of any number of structures, although the S8 Sacred House is perhaps their closest plausible source. Both are part of separate doors and, if stemming from S8, could have belonged to its north and east walls.
Architectural Frusta Associated with S8
Arch. Cat. I:3 (field no. 146, Pl. 8). Frag. of jamb and lintel molding
Limestone
F12/G12, 2. Earthquake debris on top of T20 wall
Plate 8. Arch. Cat. I:3.
Figure 5. Arch. Cat. I:6.
Figure 6. Arch. Cat. J:6.
Mph. 0.33 m. Mpw. 0.35 m. Th. 0.31 m.
Upper lefthand corner of jamb and lintel molding. A standard type of doorway of regional tombs
Compare Pacho 1827:pl. XXXVI; J. Cassels 1955:15; Stucchi 1975:178, 186, fig. 181. Compare also the door jamb of the Temple of Hermes associated with the House of Jason Magnus: Mingazzini 1966:10, fig. 8.
Arch. Cat. I:6 (field no. 121, Fig. 5). Frag. of engaged jamb pilaster
Limestone
F12, 2, 1
Mph. 0.395 m. W. 0.5l m. Mpth. 0.75 m.
Lewis hole or worn mortise in upper surface. Upper lefthand corner of engaged jamb pilaster in which pilaster terminates in plain cyma reversa molding facing on door; pilaster top (capital?) decorated with opposing pair of anchor-shaped features, righthand side of which is largely worn away. A number of doorways of Cyrenaican sacred edifices and tombs are decorated with engaged pilasters: Stucchi 1975:figs. 87, 216, 234–36; Stucchi 1965:266, ill.; W. Bacchielli 1980: figs. 2, 5–12. Unable to parallel “anchor” motif.
Arch.