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the area of access from the quay, where the presence of an opening was partially uncovered.This access appeared to be built mainly of recycled architectural fragments .Finally, a wall in smail blocks of stone was revealed to the west of the port, runningnorth-east to south-west: this seems to have marked off an area associated with theport buildings (Fig. 5).South-west sector-Circu/ar BuUding (Figs. 6, 7)In the south-western sector, the 2001 campaign saw the continuation on a largescale of the exeavation of the circular-plan building located at the south-west point ofthe promontory, in the area straddling north and south harbours. The building, as alreadydiscovered in the last campaign, is partly hewn out of the rock, underneath a rockyoutcrop which stands over it on the east side (constituting one of the island's highestpoints), and partly built of opus caementitium, with an outside wall in Iimestone blocks.The aim of the investigation was obviously to gain a complete understanding ofthe building's ground-plan. In particular, it was concemed with: a) identifying the entireextension of the base of the circular portico, already partially visible on the east and southsides, b) excavating the area within the portico and the central area of the building,both only partially investigated in the previous campaign.The excavation inside the portico yielded a large number of decorative architecturalfragments (capitals, columns, bases, marble s/abs and corbels), nails from the roof,and fragments of tiles from the portica's roof. Three openings were identified on theeast and north-east sides. Investigation of the fourth opening, on the west side, waspostponed for security reasons, as the outside wall is in a bad state of conservationand needs to be reinforced.The total circumference of the portlco's stylobate was identified (Fig. 8): carvedout of the rock on the east and south sides, it appears to have been built from scratchalong the other sides. As the rock did not crop out here, itwas obviously necessary tocontinue the portico in masonry. But the rock bed was used as a foundation, as indıcatedby the parallel lines of mortar which served to embed the blocks.Identification of the paving level presented particular difficulties, bath inside theportico and in the central area of the building, as it seems to have been removed systematically.There are only sizeable traces of the levellings effected (using rubble andmortar) in order to even up the surface of the rock bed and, in situ, smail traces of apavement in marble slabs (and many broken slabs were found during the excavation),which nonetheless belong to a phase of re-utilization, as same of the slabs have beenlaid upside down.Many problems relating to the ground-plan of the building were resolved, but others,in particular concerning important structural elements and the actual function ofthe monument, have yet to be defined. The portico was certainly covered, and the colonnade(of 24 columns) probably ended in arcades, as suggested by the finding of severalarch keystones. The structure of the central area stili remains uncertain (uncoveredor, as seems more plausible albeit uncorroborated by the findings, perhaps coveredbya vault and beams).As for its chronology, the architectural fragments, especially the capitals and materialsfound at the level of the paving preparation (alsa hundreds of fragments of oillamps with floral patterns which may be compared with samples from workshops ofTarsus and are datable from the early decades of the 5th century A.D.) suggest that thebuilding might be dated between the half or second half of the 5th Centuryand the beginningof the 6th. Its final abandonment can be placed within the half of the Vllth CenturyA.D.2 What is at any rate evident from the building's size and topographical positionis its certain pre-eminence over the other buildings in this seeter of the city.2 E.Equini Schneider, "Excavations and Research at Elaiussa Sebaste: The 2000 Campaign", 23. Kazı Sonuçlart Toplantısı,Ankara 2001 (2002), 225-226.439