North Wall

Susanna Blåndman

The north wall is built in opus mixtum with two bands of opus testaceum stretching along the entire length of the wall and opus incertum in the rest of the wall. The wall has five preserved beam holes and a breach made by tunnellers. Several features abut on the wall and some of them still have an unclear function. A drain is located in the northwest corner and an opening of a cistern is located 1.40 m from the west corner. The area between them contains a feature with an unclear function, even though part of it has been suggested by Flohr to be the bottom of a staircase (Flohr 2011,4). Yet another feature with an unclear function is located in the east corner and it also abuts on the east wall. The drain runs below the corner of the north wall and the west wall meaning that the north wall lacks a foundation for the westernmost 0.34 m. The uppermost 3 - 4 courses of the opus incertum are a modern reconstruction. There are very fragmentary remains of supporting plaster on the wall.

Opus testaceum
The two bands of bricks are located at the height of 1.25 m and 2.50 m. The lower band consists of seven courses and the upper consists of four courses. The lower band is 0.33 m thick; the upper is 0.18 m thick. The bricks are 0.16 - 0.26 cm long and 0.02 - 0.04 m thick, most of them are long. Some of the bricks have a thin grey coating. The bands are in level with the bands in the east and west walls. The lower band is reconstructed in a 0.75 wide area from the west corner due to the tunnellers' breach. The upper band is also partly mended due to the breach.

Opus incertum
The opus incertum consists of lava stones, cruma, Sarno stones and occasionally a few tufa stones. In the lower west part the opus incertum is reconstructed due to the tunnellers' breach at a 0.75 m wide area at a distance of 0.35 m from the west corner. A thick layer of mortar covers the stones in the part between the two brick bands and the mortar has an orange coating on the surface. In the upper central part the opus incertum is reconstructed at the height of 3.40 m and to the top in a 0.70 m wide area at a distance of 0.70 m from the east corner. There is a 0.30 m high patch of eruption debris in the east corner at the height of 3.80 m and a 0.70 m high patch in the west corner at the height of 4.14 m. At the height of 1.85 m and at a distance of 0.24 m from the east corner, there is a 0.25 x 0.40 m large patch of eruption debris at the wall. At several places there is a thin layer of ash on the wall. In the lowest west corner there is a protuberance made of stones and mortar, directly above the drain and resting on a fragment of a roof tile. The protuberance is 0.40 m high and 0.26 m wide at the top and 0.35 m wide at the bottom. It is not possible to see if it abuts on the wall or if it was built as part of the wall, due to the amount of mortar.

Beam holes
There are five beam holes in the wall; all located at the height of 2.70 m. The westernmost hole is the smallest, measuring 0.25 m in height and 0.20 m in width. The distance between this hole and the next is 0.50 m. The other four holes are 0.29 - 0.34 m high and 0.24 - 0.30 m wide and the distance between them is 0.18 - 0.27 m. The holes are to some extent reinforced with modern mortar and for example the area in between all holes is reinforced or reconstructed with modern mortar which makes conclusions about the distance between them and their original size uncertain. All holes except the westernmost one penetrate the wall. Today they are visible in room 7 in V 1,3, but they seem to have been covered by wall plaster, meaning that the beam holes belong to an upper floor in V 1,2 and not in V 1,3. All five holes have remains of original mortar in the upper inside part. There is also debris from the eruption inside three of the holes. The beam hole in the west wall is located at a different level in comparison with these holes. The beam holes in the north wall have their lowest point at the same height as the beam hole in the west wall has its highest point. This means that the beams of the north wall have rested on a beam extending from the west wall to the east wall.

Tunnellers' breach
A tunnellers' breach, measuring 2.50 x 0.70 m, is located in the west part of the wall, at a distance of 0.40 m from the west corner, leading to room 7 in V 1,3. The lower half is mended with bricks and blocks of Sarno and tufa stones. The upper half is covered by a large amount of mortar and hardly any stones are visible. The mortar has an orange coating.

Details
The mortar is brownish and tempered with lava and lime. There are only very fragmentary remains of supporting plaster on the wall and the feature in the northeast corner and the cistern abut on two patches.

A hole is placed at the height of 1.58 m and at a distance of 0.12 m from the east corner. It measures 0.24 x 0.16 m. It is at least 0.08 m deep and is partly filled with eruption debris. This hole corresponds in level to two holes on the west wall and to two holes on the east wall. Another hole, filled with ash, is placed at the height of 1.80 m and at a distance of 0.04 m from the west corner. It measures 0.13 x 0.10 m.Two more holes are located in the upper part of the wall, one at the height of 3.40 m and at a distance of 0.43 m from the east corner and another at the height of 3.45 m and at a distance of 2.15 from the east corner. The first one measures 0.07 x 0.10 m and the second one 0.10 x 0.10 m.