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EXCAVATIONS AT THE PALACE COMPLEX

Large and visually impressive, with two massive towers and a passageway leading towards the Audience Hall, is a truly 'Monumental Entrance' (Figs 1, 2, 12 and 13). The towers are separated by a 10.50m wide stretch of stone pavement leading to what we think was once a tall and elaborately patterned wooden façade topped by a pediment that perhaps protected an elevated walkway between the towers. This suggested reconstruction is based on the evidence from monumental rockcut architectural façades in the Phrygian Highlands.

The front façade, of which only the broad foundation slot now remains, stood at the centre of the passage (Fig. 2). A large double doorway permitted entrance to an inner section of the passageway that was reduced in width by a small room which was presumably mirrored on the other side. The 2005 excavation revealed the location of a second façade at the rear of the entrance (Fig. 8). A disturbed column base, an anaconic stele in the form of a featureless granite block, and a drain set in the stone pavement were also uncovered (Fig. 9). The stele that once stood erect by the door had a neat square recess in the pavement in front which would have been for offerings or libations.

The front of the towers were massive and wooden clamps held together some of the huge blocks (Fig. 10). The front half of the broad passage leading to the first façade, inclined at a gradient of 1 in 5, is paved with granite worn to a polish (Figs 11). Setting lines in the front portion of the pavement (Figs 12 and 13) are not parallel to the orientation of the entrance but lead to the doorway of the Audience Hall, demonstrating that the original pavement and the Audience Hall pre-date the construction of the Monumental Entrance. Two square sandstone bases, set back c.2.05m from the front of the towers, have shallow circular recesses c.0.85m in diameter. They probably supported freestanding wooden columns provided with sandstone capitals. A rectangular conglomerate plinth, once one of a pair, is preserved at the southwest corner in front of the façade. It is now thought that this front section of the Monumental Entrance was unroofed.

Pieces of sculpture and inscribed monument were recovered from the debris in the front portion of this monumental entrance. These include a statue of a human figure and an inscribed block bearing small-scale relief sculpture. There is no evidence as to exactly where they were positioned, but there is no reason to doubt that they were set up within the entrance and that they were torn down and smashed before the fire.

The towers are rectangular, each measuring approximately 15.60 by 13.00m. Their preserved lower parts were solid. Of the internal arrangements and floors of the upper portions nothing has been seen because of very extensive later pits apparently dug by looters. The stone facing of the towers comprise silver grey granite at the base with yellow sandstone above and an upper course of white chalky limestone. Between each course were large horizontal timber beams. As to the upper walling, burnt debris filling the passage points to the use of angular granite rubble and some mud as filling between timber elements. Height is difficult to estimate. When the entrance was put to the torch the timber elements, made of resinous Black Pine, seem to have transformed it into a furnace attaining high enough temperatures to melt granite and sandstone.