Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/90

 A History of Art i Sardinia and Jud. been cleared of accumulated earth and rubbish, the workmen came upon a rude pavement, which has excited much controversy as to whether it belonged to an open chamber, or was not rather a paved court enclosed by the wall shown in our ground plan (Fig. 29, 1). Did a niiragh really exist here, or was it merely an open sanctuary, surrounded by a rampart fortified at the four angles ? Such are the questions which naturally arise, but which, from lack of positive data, we are unable to answer. All we know is due to and rests upon M. Gouin's statement, that part of the objects disinterred in 1878 were found in a recess or hiding place (Fig. 29, 1 a), of which he made a sketch (Fig. 70). Underneath massive blocks, the remains of the destroyed edifice, was a layer of clay about 070 c. thick, followed by a thinner layer of dark, blistered scoriae, of a siliceous nature, which looked as though fused into a composite mass in situ. Below the scoriae was a ditch with pavement and side walls. Other cavities of the same Fig. 71.— Lingots of lead. From Fig. 72.— Stone which had served as pedestal. Baux. From Baux. description, containing similar objects, are reported to exist (M. Gouin) ; but the ground about them has been so disturbed as to make the exact site where they are situated impossible of recog- nition. We should much like to be informed as to whether such cavities or ditches were symmetrically distributed at the four angles of the structure. However that may be, there is no doubt as to the figures having all been set on blocks of trachyte ; a stone not found in the neighbourhood, and which was brought from the volcanic regions. Instead of sawing off the jets of casting found on the piece when first removed from the mould, as generally practised nowadays, they had left them undisturbed and actually used them for fixing the figures on to the plinths, either by running the jets into ingots of melted lead, or fitting them on to the stone previously hollowed out (Figs. 71, 72). This may be seen on all statuettes whose feet are intact ; and equally applies to pieces, where this detail has not