Latrine

Henrik Boman & Monika Nilsson

Latrine: E of the staircase (B, VI), close to the platform, is a latrine with a niche cut into the N wall. What remains of the latrine today is the following: a large cutting in the ashlar blocks, parts of the tile-paved surface in front of the opening to the pozzo nero, and minor cuttings in the wall around the niche.

The niche of the latrine extends over two blocks in the N wall. The upper block (D) has an apsidal cutting; a gap in the joints between the blocks separates this cutting from the lower block. The lower block is cut in a square manner, with a rounded lower part, corresponding to the pozzo nero opening.

The tile paving of the latrine, extending S of the pozzo nero, is badly damaged and large pieces are missing completely. In the area, abundant use of clay mortar is prominent and reused material is also found, a piece of which seems to be an embedded millstone. In front of the tiles, fragments of brick and crushed pottery are found, presumably constituting the remains of a cocciopesto floor. In its current condition, the exact S extension of the latrine is not possible to establish.

The niche in the lower block shows faint signs of a cutting (0.15 x 0.15m), presumably for a sitting devise. A rectangular retraction in the ashlar block and in the platform of the staircase might be the remains of the same structure, while the small cuttings around the niche may be the traces of screen walls around the latrine (a, b, e, f, g). To the east of the niche, and approximately at floor level, is the top of a N-S wall (c). It could, however, be the dismantled wall of the room that originally occupied the NE corner.

Plaster: Plaster extends on large areas of block D, including the niche. It also continues over the area to the east of the latrine where a screen wall presumably was situated.

Cesspit: A pozzo nero was found below the latrine, partly extending under the N wall. The opening is 0.60m x 0.49m. The pozzo is filled with lapilli, pumice and no attempts to clear the pozzo were made (2005).