West Wall

Thomas Staub

W wall: width 4.90 m, max. preserved height 5.00 m. Only on the southernmost part of the wall (width max. 1.00 m), a larger area is covered by plaster; else only small remains of plaster are preserved. Up to 2.10 m height, the wall consists of lava-incertum with scarce pieces of tuff and Sarno stone, and in the upper parts up till the top of cruma-incertum, all set into the reddish mortar. In the uppermost part in the middle of the wall (from 4.20 m height), the lower 2/3 of a later closed off round opening is visible, probably a filled up round window, which originally opened up towards court d in house V 1,3. Here the later closed off window had a diam. of 0.30 - 0.40 m, showing that the window opened up towards the court and not in the other direction. Even some remains of the plaster covering the original window frame are preserved. The filling consists of Sarno stone rubble, set into a yellowish mortar. In the northern zone of the wall, a 1.10 m wide part, in 2.20 m height up to the top, seems to be a later repair, consisting of blocks (max. 0.50 x 0.20 m) and rubble of Sarno stone, cruma, lava and spolias of tiles and reddish mortar, set into a grey mortar and partly covered by modern concrete. The west wall is bound to the north wall. At this wall, the relations between floor and plaster can be observed: the floor continues underneath the plaster but ends app. 0.003 - 0.005 m before the wall.