Floor

Susanna Blåndman

The floor was cleaned and documented during the field season 2010. It consisted of four original layers, presented according to their elevation, and remains of a structure from an earlier building phase. The original layers were covered by a modern protective layer consisting of small lava gravel and loosely packed soil.

Original layers:
Cocciopesto floor
In a few places extremely badly preserved remains of a cocciopesto floor were found. They are extremely fragile and crumbles easily. There are remains along the west wall at a distance of 0.05 m; 0.98, 1.60 m and 2.10 m from the northwest corner and they all abut on the wall. Each patch measures approximately 0.10 x 0.15 m. At the distance of 0.98 m from the northwest corner, a 0.45 m long and 0.10 m wide patch also abuts on the wall. Remains can also be found along most of the north wall, for example at a distance of 0.30 m from the northwest corner where a 0.30 m long and up to 0.15 m wide patch abuts on the wall. The remains abut on a lime-concrete floor.

Lime-concrete floor
Beneath the remains of the cocciopesto floor are the remains of a lime-concrete floor containing a large amount of lava grains. The floor is preserved in a large part of the room, except in the southwest corner and in the south-eastern part. The floor is damaged but quite well preserved in the west half and in the northeast. Along the west wall, at a distance of 0.44 m from the south corner and northwards, the floor is sloping against the southwest and the elevation is 0.03 m lower than the rest of the floor. In the area where the lowermost course of stones in the west wall is missing, the lime-concrete floor continues 0.08 m beneath the wall. At a distance of 0.30 m north from the southwest corner there is a cavity in the floor that continues 0.05 m under the wall. Even though it did not continue all the way beneath the wall we decided to open a small-scale trench to a deeper level in room 5, on the opposite side of the wall. There were no corresponding finds in room 5.

Filling material
In the southeast area of the room, in a 2.65 m wide area along the south wall, stretching 1.20 m to the north, there were no floor remains. Instead there was a layer composed of soil and filling material such as fragments of terracotta, fragments of roof tiles and plaster together with larger stones of cruma. Since part of the surface in the room was covered by this layer of filling material, we decided to open a small-scale trench stretching from the north wall to the south wall, at a distance of 1.40 m from the west wall. The trench measured 2.80 m (S-N) and 0.94 m (E-W).The trench partly incorporated the lime-concrete floor in the north, which was removed. The aim was to see if we could find earlier structures beneath the floor level. The trench showed that the layer of filling material was 0.37 m high.

Beaten earth
After removing the layer of filling material a new surface appeared in a large part of the trench; a floor surface of beaten earth. The surface ended 2.36 m from the north wall, in the direct prolongation of the remains of the structure from an earlier building phase. There were no remains of any continuation of the structure but the filling material continued downwards, containing a few larger lava stones, the largest one measuring at least 0.40 x 0.25 m.

Remains of a structure from an earlier building phase
In the southwest corner of the room, at a distance of 0.30 m from the corner, remains of a wall from an earlier building phase were found, stretching from west to east and measuring 0.30 m (E-W) and 0.12 m (N-S).The west wall is built above it. The upper visible part of the structure consists of cruma, Sarno stone and mortar. At the north and south side of the wall plaster still remains in situ. Filling material abuts on both sides of it.