West Wall

Mats Holmlund

The wall is mostly built in opus incertum, except for a small part of opus listatum in the north corner and a part of the doorpost of the doorway leading into room 1, which is built in opus quadratum. The lower part of the wall, from the floor level to circa 1.40 m from the ground, is probably in situ, but has been reinforced by the application of modern mortar to its surface. It consists mainly of limestone, lava, and cruma.
The upper part of the wall — above the first limestone block in the doorpost, above circa 1.40 m from the ground in the incertum part and above the listatum part — is reconstructed, possibly at several stages. This upper part consists of the same material as the lower original wall, but also contains a couple of pieces of cut tufa.
The listatum part of the wall starts circa 0.80 m from the floor level and ends at 1.50 m. It is circa 0.15 m wide and consists of two rows of terracotta tiles interlaced with on row of cut limestone. The quadratum part of the wall consists of a large limestone block that is circa 0.65 m wide and 1.40 m high. There are three additional blocks stacked on the first one, but they are part of the reconstructed upper part of the wall. The second and third limestone blocks measure approximately 0.40 by 0.40 m. The fourth is 0.31 m wide and 0.18 m high.

There is a large oval hole in the wall that is circa 0.70 m wide and 0.85 m high. The hole is located approximately 0.15 m from the north corner and 0.80 m from the ground (as of 2012 the hole has been mended).
There are no spolia in the original part of the wall, but in the upper, reconstructed part, there are two, possibly three, oval shaped pieces of lava that seems to be parts from a lid of a cistern (possibly the missing lid from the cistern in room 1 of taberna V.1,31). The first bit is located 0.80 m from the north corner and circa 1.90 m from the floor level. The second is located circa 2.40 m from the north corner and 2.00 m from the ground. The (possible) third one is located 0.35 m from the north corner and 1.65 m from the floor level.
There are also six pieces of cut tufa in the upper part of the wall. The first is located circa 0.05 m from the north corner and circa 1.50 m from the floor level. The second is 0.75 m from the north corner and circa 1.30 from the floor level. The third is 1.05 m from the north corner and 1.50 from the ground. The fourth and fifth are fixed together 1.75 m form the north corner and 1.50 m from the floor level. The last stone is located 2.40 m from the north corner and 1.50 m from the ground. There are also another two rougher, cut pieces of tufa in the wall. They are located adjacent to each other, circa 1.20 m from the north corner and 2.00 m from the floor level.

The original mortar of the lower part of the incertum wall seems to be the usual yellowish grey kind that contains grains of lava and limestone. Modern dark grey mortar is applied to the surface of the wall at several places. The mortar of the upper part and the crest of the wall is the same dark grey kind.

There is no plaster extant on the wall.