North Wall

Renée Forsell

Inner part
The wall is built in op. incertum and consists of limestone, lava stones, tufa and cruma. The lava stones are more predominant in the upper part while the tufa and cruma are more numerous in the middle part of the wall. There is one spolium, a very small piece if travertine.
The mortar is yellowish buff and tempered with large pieces of lava and lime. Some mortar is missing in the area where cruma is more frequent. At the height of 2.00-2.80m the stones are to a large part covered by mortar. There is a patch of modern mortar, below a beam hole, next to the doorway of the E wall at 1.70m above floor level.

There are five beam holes in the wall. Three of these are placed in line at the height of c. 2.80m. The middle one penetrates the wall. There are no holes at the same level in the S wall. The fourth hole is placed close to the W corner at the height of 1.80m. There are remains of mortar in the upper part of the hole. This hole corresponds to the holes in the W wall. Finally the fifth hole is 0.10m from the E corner at the height of 2.00m.

There are few remains of plaster or plaster coating. It can be seen in the W corner at the heights of 0.95 and 1.20m. There is also a patch above the door lintel. Pieces of plaster coating on several stones and a piece of modern plaster, give evidence of plaster now gone.
In the W lower 0.60m part of the wall stones and mortar have not been cleared and petrified ash covers the stones. Moreover, an accumulation of lapilli and ash remains in situ in the W corner at the height of c. 3.00m.

Outer part
The wall is built in op. incertum and consists of limestone, cruma, lava stones and occasionally dirty yellow tufa. There are also some spolia: three terracotta fragments, one of them a roof tile, and a few pieces of travertine. An area in the middle, at the height 0.90-1.50m, contains more lava than the rest of the wall. Some stones are missing in this part of the wall and at one place, 1.14m above floor level 0.44m from E corner, this has created a hole that is penetrating the wall totally. The mortar is mainly yellowish buff tempered with large pieces of lava and lime. In two areas the mortar is greyish, the lowest 0.60m of the wall and at the height of c. 0.90-1.50m. In the upper W part and in the middle the stones are to a large part covered by mortar.

There are some minor remains of weathered plaster, the largest in the W corner just above the partition wall lintel at height c. 1.90-2.62m. Additional fragments of plaster remains are found at various heights along the E corner, at floor level, at 1.50-1.65m and at 2.60-3.00m.