North Wall

Thomas Staub

Width: 3.50 m (between door towards andron10 and north east corner), max. preserved height: 4.80 m. Dimensions of door towards andron10: 1.27 x 4.00 m. The eastern doorframe consists, once more, of Sarno stone blocks (for the western one, see atrium4, description of north wall). At the bottom there is a stander, 0.25 x 1.40 m, with its lower corner cut off over the threshold (0.08 x 0.10 m), then follows a 0.30 x 0.50 m large block, then a stretcher (1.05 x 0.55 m). Under the eastern corner of this, a Sarno stone block was inserted in to the opus incertum (0.30 x 0.15 m). Then follows a stander, 0.35 x 1.10 m, then a block of 0.35 x 0.40 m. Above this comes the modern lintel, followed by modern reconstructions. In 3.05 m h, a shallow hole, 0.10 x 0.10 m, is situated 0.08 m from the corner of the doorpost. In the plaster, covering the western part of the wall up to 1.15 m height, the rim, against which the wooden doorframe was set, is visible at the doorpost. Towards the east, the plaster is preserved up to 2.80 m height, and shows a seam in 1.15 m height. At floor level, remains of cut off tiles, which originally covered the walls, are still visible along the wall. The masonry consists up to a height of 2.60 m (western part) to 3.40 m (eastern part) of opus incertum, in the lower part of lava (to a height of 2.60 - 2.70 m) and above of red Cruma. In the eastern part, near the corner, a 0.60 x 1.70 m breach in the wall, probably also made by tunnelers, is repaired after the excavation. The upper part of the wall is a modern reconstruction made of Sarno stone blocks (average 0.25 x 0.20 m), with smaller Cruma, lava and Sarno stone pieces.