Annual Report 2008
(Draft)
Excavation of the Hammam Annexes.
The first objective of the 2008 season was to complete the definition of the annexes on the south
side of the hammam. Five workers were assigned to evacuate the top level of debris in an area five
meters wide along the south edge of the excavated annexes of the hammam. This is work that had been
assigned to Patrimonium but had not yet been completed. We judged that it was important to have it
done before we arrived to resume stratigraphic excavation in that same area. It would save us
essentially of one week’s work. The layer that they removed is assigned the number 1000. 1000 will
be the number assigned to the trench of our strategraphic excavation in this area, in sequence of 900
which is the small trench within the frigidarium establishing the terminus post quem. Trench 1000
covers an area of 5 meters by 20 meters. The depth of the debris removed is approximately 50 to 60
centimeters. A few pieces of ceramics and metal objects were retrieved but have to be considered as
derived from a non strategraphic context.
At 46 cm. below the datum point is an occupation level. Deposit 1002 consists of a well made
lime-plaster floor about 4-5 cm. thick. See Photo 1. Associated with this floor is a 19 cm. thick wall,
#1003, made pisé and stones. A square pillar, # 1004, made of brick and stone abuts 1003. Yet another
wall, # 1006, runs perpendicular to #1003 and is made of the same material. See Figure1. These
features are contemporary to each other and posterior to 1001 and 1007 which is 19th and 20th century
fill. The level is dated to the nineteenth century, dated by ceramic material and one Alaouite coin.
These architectural remains are evidence of a more elite level of occupation than the relatively crude
agricultural settlement that we assumed to be the case on the basis of 2006 and 2007 excavations.
The next floor level at cir. 130 cm. below the datum represents the occupation of the potters and
metallurgists, i.e., 15th through 18th centuries. At this level, in trench 400 excavated in 2006, we had
observed a series of six fire pits/kilns/ approximately 35 cm. in diameter each, enclosed in a deposit #
407 which we described simply as “the industrial complex.” See Photo 2. During this 2008 season, we
photographed this complex and removed it. We were now able to confirm that two of these fire pits
consisted of ceramic basins. In trench 1000 we also observe a series of very large fire pits, #1022 cir. 1
meter in diameter and #s 1044, 1047 cir. 1.5 meters in diameter each. We now believe that these served
the potters as open kilns. See Photo 3. Deposits 105, 1016, 1017, 1018, and 1020 consist of fill of the
destruction of the hammam. All of the material retrieved from this level is of the 14th century including
a fragment of cuerda seca found in # 1015 and an element of Merinid zillij found in #1020.
The 2008 excavation has finally enabled us to see the ensemble of the annexes of the hammam.
See Figure 2 and Photo 4. The north-south axis of the hammam runs diagonally across the structure
from upper right hand corner to the lower left hand corner. So, we will use the terms right, left,
top/upper and bottom/lower to refer to the various features of the annexes. The distance from the upper
to lower limits is 12.5 meters. The distance from right to left along the upper limit is 15.7 meters; and
along the lower limit, 11.5 meters. The upper wall is actually the wall of the cold bath; it is 15.7 meters
long and 70 cm. thick, buttressed by an outer wall 30 cm. thick. The left wall is 12.5 meters long and
90 cm. thick. The lower wall is 9 meters long and 80 cm. thick. The main entrance to the hammam is
in the lower left corner of the structure and is 1.8 meters wide. The right wall is 13 meters long and 1
meter thick. It extends from the lower right corner of the annexes to the upper right corner where it
joins the right extremity of the cold bath. Within these annexes is a central room, equivalent to the
Roman apodyterium which served as a changing room or sitting room, 6.5 meters from right to left and
6 meters from top to bottom. The floor is paved in brick arranged in a chevron pattern, except for a
section in the top left corner (approximately 2.7 meters by 1 meter) where the brick pavement is
missing. In the room is an octagon shaped basin, with interior dimensions of 1.7meters left to right and
1.5 meters top to bottom; the exterior dimensions are 2.8 meters left to right and 2.5 meters top to
bottom. Constructing an octagon shaped basin is more complicated than building a round or square
basin. To construct an octagon with a compass and straight edge requires 18 separate steps. Although
the basin in the apodyterium of the Aghmat hammam is not a perfect octagon, it suggests a level of
sophistication which in turn suggests, along with the overall size of the hammam and its annexes, that
this is indeed a monumental public bath.
There is a gallery/corridor on each of the four sides of this central room. The main entrance of
the hammam is located in the lower left hand corner of the lower gallery. The entrance is 1.8 meters
wide and opens to a small vestibule which is the same width as the entrance and is 2.9 meters deep. In
the upper right hand corner of this vestibule, a doorway 1.7 meters wide opens into the lower gallery
which is 7.5 meters long and 2.4 meters wide. From here, one steps down into the apodyterium on
either side of the central pillar, #1032. At some point, this corridor was partitioned off from the central
hall.
The right gallery is also elevated with steps down into the apodyterium on either side of its
central pillar. See Photo 5. This gallery which is 8.5 meters long is wider at the upper end, 3 meters
wide, and narrows almost to a point, only .5 meters wide at the lower end. At the upper end of the
gallery is a corridor with evidence of a staircase turning to the right, possibly leading to a terrace.
The upper gallery was substantially reconfigured by the occupation of the industrialist from the
15 through 18th centuries. It is 9.5 meters long and 1.7 meters wide. It is/was divided by five walls:
one on either side of the main entrance (#445 and #451), one that abuts the smaller door (#433), one at
the right end of the gallery (#411), and one that abuts the upper left pillar of the apodyterium (#453). It
appears that most if not all of these partitions were built after the use of the hammam qua hammam, i.e.
after the late 14th century. Two of the walls (#433 and #451) have been recorded and removed. Access
to this gallery could have been from the right end which presumes the absence of walls #411, #433 and
#445, or from doorway just to the right of wall #453 which presumes the absence of wall #451 and an
opening in the wall #456. At the left end of this upper gallery are a square basin (#462) and an opening
giving access to the subterranean water channels feeding the hammam and annexes. See Photo 6 and
Figure 3.
th
The gallery on the left, 6 meetrs long by 1.7 meters wide, contains a long drainage channel
(labeled #443 in the 2006 season but continues into the 700 section excavated in 2007). Just to the left
of this drainage channel is the rectangular deposit beneath the brick floor (#747) which contained the
large quantity of 12th century ceramics noted in the 2007 report. See Photo 7.
We decided to take advantage of the brocken pavement in the apodyterium to examine the
stratigraphy below the floor. The deposits excavated here are #s 748 and 749. At least two floor levels
are visible below the top floor level with at least 15 cm. of fill between each floor. Most importantly,
corresponding to the lowest level visible in this location is the edge of what appears to be another
octagon shaped basin. See Photo 8. One full side, two corners, and the beginning of two more sides
can be seen. This strongly suggests that these annexes underwent several (at least three) stages of
occupation corresponding to the same or similar succession that is visible in trench 900 within the cold
bath as described in the report of 2007.
Water Supply.
We continued to evacuate the water channel visible at the left end of Trench 400 to a length of
approximately 6 meters. Next, we decided to investigate the vertical shaft of the khettara that is
located five meters from the southwest corner of the hammam. See Figure 4. At a depth of
approximately one meter from the surface, the stone lined seguia, completely intact with a pointed arch
on the top side, intersects the shaft. See Photos 9-12. The interior of the seguia is 45 cm wide and 90
cm high at the point. What this means is that the seguia, at least at this spot, parallels the khettara
which is a later water delivery system than the seguia.
Excavation of the Grand Mosque of Aghmat.
Examination of the relationship of the medieval road and medieval seguia compared to their
modern counterparts was also a crucial clue to discovering the location of the grand mosque. Ibn Abd
al-Malik al Murrâkushi tells us in his al-dayl wa al-takmila: “To the east of the mosque (al-masdjid) is
the main road of the town as well as the Grand Canal Sultaniyya (al-sâqiya al-uzmâ al-sultâniyya)…A
bridge (qantara) was built over the canal to arrive at the mosque.”1 The sequence suggested by this
text is that from the main road, we cross the seguiya to arrive at the mosque—so, road, canal, mosque.
Today, the seguia runs along the east side of the road. From the road, we cross the seguia on a small
plank bridge to arrive at the hammam. So, if the text is correct, is the mosque in the same field as the
hammam? Not at all. The section of the medieval seguia and the section of the medieval road that we
excavated are in the opposite relationship one to the other, i.e., the seguia runs along the west side of
the road. The mosque should be in the field on the opposite side of the road from the hammam, just
where oral tradition says it should be.
When the Moroccan-American Project in Aghmat began back in 2005, the focus of its work was
the hammam, more specifically, identifying, defining and consolidating the hammam. It was first and
foremost a rescue mission. Obviously, to accomplish those objectives, archaeological investigation
was necessary—not only of the structure itself, but also of its immediate environs in order to
understand its context, its extent, annexes, water supply, etc. In the course of that work on the
hammam during the first three seasons of 2005, 2006, and 2007, a distinct oral tradition emerged as we
heard from several passers by along the dirt road that borders the western edge of the field where the
hammam is located. The gist of what they said was that if we were looking for the grand mosque, we
were looking in the wrong place. We should be looking on the other side of the road. One day during
the 2007 season, an elderly gentleman passed by. He introduced himself to us as an imam, descending
from a long line of imams going all the bay back to the origins of Aghmat. He confirmed the oral
tradition with even more specificity. “The mosque is just on the other side of that palm tree,” he said,
pointing at the single palm amid the olive trees in the field across the road. Of course, we were not
looking for the mosque; we were working on the hammam. But that did not make all that much sense
to passers by since they already knew that the hammam was the hammam.
We had already begun to do remote sensing with magnetometry and ground penetrating radar in
the field around the hammam in order to better understand the hammam’s context. Since these remote
sensing processes are quick and easy once the equipment and expertise are on hand, and non-invasive
of the terrain, we decided to survey the field across the road. Both survey techiques showed large
rectangular formations (approximately 36 x 27 meters) just on the other side of the palm tree. The
ground penetrating radar not only confirmed the magnetometry survey; it showed a clearer image of a
smaller rectangle within the northern one third of the larger one. See Figures 5 and 6. Could the
smaller rectangle be the courtyard within the mosque? Most early mosques in Morocco point SSE,
1
[get full reference], p. 443.
very close to the orientation of this sub-surface formation.
To confirm the identity of the large rectangular structure on the computer screen, it was clear
that we had to excavate. The property belonged to Le Colonel Ahmed bin Abad, reputedly a
descendant of Mu’tamid bin Abad, the poet king of Seville who was brought to Aghmat as a prisoner
by the Almoravids in the late 11th century, died and was buried there. The colonel graciously allowed
us to do the remote season in 2007, and now allowed us to excavate a few trial trenches in order to
resolve that issue as negotiations moved forward to purchase the property.
The next question was where to start. We had divided the field into a grid of 20 x 20 meter
squares. Unfortunately, all but one of the steel pins that we drove into the ground to mark off the grid
had disappeared. But there was one feature, a pile of rocks, visible both on the ground and on the
computer screen that overlapped the line separating the smaller rectangle from the larger rectangle. We
decided to start with a 4 x 4 meter trench just to the east of that pile of rocks. In a small pit elsewhere
in the field, approximately 75 meters from our trench, we observed a trace of a well made plaster floor
at a depth of 1 meter below the surface. So, we estimated that we might find the floor of the structure
that is visible in our remote sensing at the same depth. We did not. But at a depth of 1.50 meters, we
did encounter the base of a brick wall, approximately 40 centimeters thick, that dissected our trench
diagonally, almost exactly in the center of the trench. This wall is identified as #1105 in our
photographs and drawings. See Photo 13.
North of the wall, at a depth of approximately – 165 centimeters, we uncovered a section of a
mortar pavement (#1110) covering an area of approximately 1 x 1.5 meters. This pavement is
approximately 10 centimeters thick and covers a stone sub-floor (#1111). On the south side of the wall,
the only trace of a floor is in the southwest corner of the trench where we found a section of pavement,
two and a half bricks, in situ (#112). Between those bricks and the wall, however, was a large (35 cm
in diameter), green glazed ablutions bowl/basin decorated with bands of stamped patterns. See Photo
14.
Our tentative conclusion at this point was that north of the brick wall, the interior of the small
rectangle within the larger one, was the courtyard of a larger structure. If this is indeed a mosque, the
qibla wall would be on the south side of the wall #1105. The next logical step, then, would be to find
the qibla wall which, on the basis of our remote sensing, should be approximately 27 meters away
along a line perpendicular to wall #1105. See Figure 7. We began with a 1.5 meter wide by 4 meter
long trench along that line from 23 to 27 meters. The plow level extends to about 30 centimeters below
the surface. Just below the plow level, at 32 centimeters below surface, we reached a cruciform brick
pillar 107 x 99 centimeters. The base of the pillar is at a depth of -135 centimeters, the level of a
smooth lime plaster floor. The fill from below the plow line and the floor was consistently a
destruction level consisting of numerous fragments of brick and ceramics.
To continue searching for the qibla, we extended the 1.5 meter wide trench another four meters
in both directions. We had missed it by a half meter. A wall transected our trench at 27.5 meters from
wall #1105. This wall becomes #1204. The wall covers two smaller pillars, one (#1220) on the north
side of the wall in direct line with the cruciform pillar , the other (#1221) on the south side of the wall,
offset to the east. North of the cruciform pillar are two smaller square pillars, one 40 x 50 cm and the
other 40 x 40 cm, roughly two meters apart on center. In the area excavated south of the wall (#1203),
we found numerous fragments of roof tiles and a very large number of nails.
Next we decided to follow wall #1204 by digging a trench 1.75 meters wide to straddle both
sides of the wall. The total length of this trench is 24 meters. At the west end of the trench, 5.5 meters
from the center row of pillars, a wall (#1212) 80 centimeters wide runs perpendicular to wall #1204.
Immediately to the west of wall #1212 is a canal made of bricks and mortar, 96 cm exterior and 40 cm
interior, running diagonally across wall # 1204. To the east of the central line of pillars is a break
(#1218) in wall #1204 beginning at 5 meters from the center and extending 2.3 meters further east. We
extended by 2 meters the trench facing this opening and exposed one more square pillar (#1219) that
lines up with the edge of the opening in the wall and with the cruciform pillar.
CONCLUSIONS
We are quite confident that the structure is indeed the grand mosque of Aghmat, we have as
many questions as conclusions. It appears that wall #1204 is indeed the qibla wall; opening #1218
could possibly be the opening for the mihrab, although this is far from certain. Judging by the remote
sensing image, we are estimating that the entire complex is approximately 48 meters north to south and
35 meters east to west with the prayer hall being 27.5 meters by 35 meters square with a 10 x 22 meter
courtyard at the north end. These dimensions seem to be confirmed in our excavation by the distance
between walls #1105 and #1204. Judging by possible differences in floor construction, brick at the
north end (trench 1100) and plaster further south (trench 1200), changes in the dimensions and
construction of the different pillars as well as by the fact that at least two pillars were covered by the
construction of the “qibla wall,” it seems nearly certain that the complex underwent different phases of
construction. These uncertainties should be resolved through excavation of the entire area highlighted
in the remote sensing image.