East Wall

Susanna Blåndman

The wall is an inner wall between room 5 and room 4. It is built in opus mixtum with opus incertum and two bands of opus testaceum. There are also two areas built in opus vittatum mixtum. The area above the height of 1.85 m, a 0.36 - 0.42 m wide area in the south corner, is a modern reconstruction. A large part of the uppermost opus incertum in this area is modern. There is a 0.09 m high modern reconstruction at the height of 0.52 m, in the same corner. As for the west end of the north wall in room 3, the south end of the east wall in room 5 is placed on the same block of Sarno stone. This block abuts on the foundation of a lava block placed in the floor surface in front of the wall. In the north corner a feature with unclear function abuts on the wall.

Opus vittatum mixtum in the south part of the wall
The southernmost part of the wall, a 0.54 - 0.62 m wide area from the bottom of the wall and up to 1.85 m, is built in opus vittatum mixtum with a few longer, 0.85 - 0.93 m long tongues stretching into the opus incertum to the north. The opus vittatum mixtum is made of two courses of bricks alternating with one course of tufa blocks. Each section of bricks corresponds quite well in height (0.06 - 0.09 m thick) to each course of tufa blocks (0.08 - 0.09 m thick).The bricks are 0.12 - 0.28 m long and 0.03 - 0.05 m thick, most of them are long. The tufa blocks are 0.13 - 0.30 m long and 0.08 - 0.09 m thick, most of them are long. Many bricks and the tufa blocks in the upper part of the wall look greyish due to the fact that several of them are covered by a thin grey coating.

Opus vittatum mixtum in the upper north part of the wall
The upper north part of the wall, at the height of 3.30 - 4.80 m, is also built in opus vittatum mixtum, made of two courses of bricks alternating with one course of tufa blocks. The longer courses are approximately 0.90 m long and the shorter ones approximately 0.60 m long. It was not possible to measure the height and the length of bricks and the tufa blocks due to the height of the wall.The two uppermost courses seem to be a modern reconstruction. The opus vittatum mixtum forms a straight line towards the central part of the wall which confirms that it is the north door jamb of a doorway. Due to the reconstructed upper south part of the wall there are no remains of the south door jamb.

Opus testaceum and opus incertum
Two bands of opus testaceum are extending along the entire length of the east wall, at the height of 1.25 m and 2.50 m. The lower band is 0.31 m thick; the upper band is 0.20 m thick. The bricks are 0.11 - 0.28 m long and 0.03 - 0.04 m thick, most of them are long.The lower band consists of 7 courses and the upper band consists of 4 courses. All bricks in the upper band have a thin grey coating on the surface and it is difficult to see the colour of the bricks. The southernmost part, 0.39 m wide, of the upper band is modern. The bands are in level with the bands in the north and west walls.

The remaining part of the wall is built in opus incertum and consists of cruma, Sarno stones, a few lava stones and a few tufa stones. There is a fine layer of ash in some areas. At the height of 2.70 m there is a 0.30 m high and 0.05 m deep recess in the wall, stretching from the corner and 1.10 m to the south. It is partly filled with mortar and a smaller amount of lapilli and ash in the corner and it is located in the same level as and in connection with a beam hole in the north wall. The recess has most probably been longer but it is difficult to see since there is a large amount of mortar in the south part. In the west wall of room 5 there is a corresponding recess at the same level, however 1.60 m longer. The recess has most probably functioned as a support for a beam. A 0.30 m high patch of debris from the eruption is located in the north corner, at the height of 3.80 m.

Details
The mortar in the wall is brownish and tempered with grains of lava. There is modern mortar in some areas, for example in the lower central part. A large amount of mortar covers the stones in the upper part and in the lowest part. Only a scarce fragment of supporting plaster still remains on the wall, located in the lowermost part of wall at the distance of 0.70 m from the north corner. The feature in the northeast corner abuts on this patch.

Two holes are located at the same height and at a distance of 1.73 m from each other. At 0.23 m below them, two iron fragments located at distance of 1.17 m from each other. The two holes are located at the height of 1.56 m, at the distance of 1.05 m and 2.78 m from the north corner, and the iron fragments at the height of 1.33 m and at a distance of 1.30 m and 2.47 m from the north corner. The first hole measures 0.12 x 0.08 m and it is at least 0.13 m deep. It is partly filled with eruption debris and one cruma. The cruma is partly covered by eruption debris and there is mortar beneath it showing that it was located in the hole before the eruption. The second hole measures 0.15 x 0.17 m. The holes are partly filled with eruption debris. A third hole, measuring 0.10 x 0.11 m, penetrates the wall. It is located at the height of 2.70 m and 0.44 m from the north corner. There are some remains of mortar in the upper part of the hole. There is one hole at the corresponding level in the west wall. It could be from a scaffold since the beam would have blocked the hole.