Bir Ftouha nr. Carthage

Described in Susan T. Stevens' "Excavations of an Early Christiam Pilgrimage Complex at Bir Ftouha (Carthage), extracted from Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 54 (2000) [www.doaks.org/etexts.html]: "The font, once revetted in Carian and cipollino marble, was extensively looted; deducing its exact dimensions and shape from the remaing third of its rubble core is dfficult. It appears to have had three steps: the top level was quatrefoil or cruciform with the arms aligned on the main east-west axis of the church, the middle step was probably oval, and the lowest, at a maximum depth of 1 meter, was circular. The ciborium most likely consisted of four columns, probably placed between the arms of the cross, and it included some gilded stucco elements. A drain from the font run down into a small tank (with a capacity of approximately 4 cu. m.) built between the foundations of the annex building and the curving outside wall of the baptistery. Its west and south walls (the foundations of the annex and baptistery) were lined with plaster. By contrast, its east and north sides were built with courses of cobble masonry pierced by numerous drainage holes. The bottom of the tank was also water permeable. This feature is likely to have been a soakaway chamber, designed to take water out of the font and leech it gradually into the clayey subsoild away from the buildings."