Dalla cava al (non) finito, al demolito: archeologia di un cantiere. Il caso della c.d. stoà-basilica a Hierapolis di Frigia (Turchia)

This paper focuses on the so called stoà-basilica in the North Agorà in Hierapolis of Phrygia (Turkey), in particular on the aspects related to the organization of the building site and the implementation of the central body of the building. The stoà runs along the eastern side of the big square created starting from the Hadrian Age and achieved under Antoninus Pius. Recent archaeometric analysis conducted on some architectural blocks allowed to determine the marbles provenance: the quarries involved in the building construction are locals, and located very close to the site. Due to the dimensions of the stoà-basilica and to the choice to invest substantial resources in the polychromatic breccia, used in upper level pillars and balustrades, the necessity to have large quantities of materials at disposals, and of huge blocks at a moderate price, let to accept even pieces which would have normally rejected in the quarry. The signs of working indicate frequent episodes of fixing testified by the binders’ housing and by the holes for cramps and dowels; the fractures, having occurred during the phase of the implementation and above all within the bigger blocks, are due to the quality of marble. Another note is related to the operations of assembly and to the use of iron cramps and dowels, concentrated in the building’s foreparts, so to guarantee stability to the structure. Lastly, some remarks concern the monument’s life in Byzantine period, when the stoà became a quarry of construction materials.