Room a
Description
Henrik Boman & Monika Nilsson
Room a, is entered through a large door (c. 5m wide) from Via del Vesuvio. A door and a window open into room b, a retrobottega, and there is a high doorway leading into the corridor c.
The room contains a large counter, a cistern (discovered in 2006) between the counter and the threshold, a lararium in the N wall, an earlier lararium, now filled in, at a low level in the S wall and a hearth in the SW corner (now destroyed). The large, heavily reconstructed counter, with six built-in vessels, is placed close to the doorway. The cistern is filled-in with fine grained earth and had presumably gone out of use in the later stages of the caupona.
The floor in the front area of the room was completely destroyed. Minor investigation under the threshold showed that the threshold stones now found lying in the opening constitute a modern reconstruction.
Grey rough wall plaster was found in situ below floor level at several locations. The E wall continues below the door opening to room c, covered with the grey wall plaster.
The large door way to Via del Vesuvio is an original feature of the building, since the opus quadratum wall along the N façade of the building continues on the W façade, indicating that both exterior walls are contemporaneous.
The cistern found by the counter and the grey plaster on the E wall, below floor level, indicate that this room originally had a different layout. The E wall was most likely closed to room c in the early phases of the building.
