West Wall

A. Karivieri & R. Forsell

The wall is located between room f and taberna V 1,27

The wall is built in op. incertum and consists mostly of lava stones, some limestone in the upper part and some pieces of cruma. The stones are quite small and set in much mortar. Part of the W wall in the southern corner, nearest to the floor, was removed to form the niche of the south wall.

Wall plaster: The wall is covered with plaster up to the height of ca 2.50 m. The wall plaster consists of several layers. In the S part of the wall the outermost layer consists mainly of plaster coating. Below it there is a layer of white painted plaster with a decoration of red bands in the corners and an L-formed band in the niche. In the N corner at the height of 0.67-0.68 m there is a green horizontal band. At the floor level there is remains of a black dado. There is also at a lower level remains of a light coloured wall plaster connected with a floor level, which is above the op. signinum pavement.
The uppermost plaster coating layer has been cut with horizontal cuts/slashes (ca 0.03-0.05m long) in the surface. This has probably been done as a preparation for e new plaster layer.
: It is not possible to say if the black and the white coloured plasters belong to the same phase but it is possible if the alcove in the south corner was painted white. If the plaster coating layer was still wet during the eruption it is possible that the upper part of the layer fell down on the floor and created the layer of packed mortar above the op. signinum floor.

State of preservation: Upper part missing, uppermost part reconstructed.