Figure 40. Pumping the puddles; the main challenge is to keep the water away from the soil. Shown here is a small pump provided by Mayor Hassan Fahed and his municipal staff. 7-11-2015.
Figure 22. Stone and soil removal – experimental; it proved very difficult to flip the stones over the top edge. 22-10-2015.
Figure 42. Sunshine and evaporation proved the best drying agent! 8-11-2015
Figure 21. Smaller stones were carried up the steps in a grand 15 minute ‘parade’ in which the 20 members of the Commodus Gate Preservation team participated. 21-10-2015.
Figure 11. Reservoir with residue of rain-supplied water from the winter of 2014-5, 19-9-2015.
Figure 28. While stones were being removed, another part of the team began removing the soil using buckets and ropes. The strategy was to remove the thinner layers from the edges where bedrock was higher to isolate the deeper and thicker layer in the middle. This and the following 20 photographs show the soil ‘melt’ away until the final remnant is removed from the deeper center. 20-10-2015
