South Wall
Description
Thomas Staub
S wall: width 6.40 m, max. preserved height (incl. cellar): 5.60 m, height above floor level: 4.10 m. In about 0.90 m height, over the level of the cellar, a row of 14 round holes is placed in the wall, diam. 0.10 - 0.20 m, with modern restorations, probably the holes for the beams supporting the floor of the room. Up until floor level (upper side at ca. 1.50 m height), the wall is covered by modern concrete. Here the wall consists of opus incertum, mainly of Sarno stone, cruma and lava but also reused materials as parts of reddish mortar, ceramic shards and pieces of tiles. In the middle part of the wall, under the beam holes, a relieving arch is set into the wall, made of partly trapezoid Sarno stone blocks (max. 0.35 x 0.18 m), the crown not visible because of the modern repairs. 0.40 - 0.50 m above the beam holes, the wall shows a slight recess (ca. 0.08 m high), above which remains of the floor, consisting of a lava-concrete with irregularly inserted white and grey stones, are visible.
The south wall of room f, above floor level, is made of a mixed opus incertum containing Sarno stone, lava, red and grey cruma, grey and yellow tuff, pieces of bricks, reddish and dark yellow mortar, all set into a lighter yellowish mortar. The dimensions of the stones are max. 0.15 x 0.15 m. At app. 1.40 m above floor level, three holes are cut into the wall, each ca. 0.10 x 0.10 m large, at 0.25 m, 1.70 m and 3.00 m from the south-east corner. The same is repeated at 2.60 m height, except for the westernmost hole, which is filled up, probably in modern times, as the piece of a tile, which marks the upper rims of all the existing holes, is visible even here. These holes probably served for fixing scaffolding. Between 0.60 and 1.30 m from the south-east corner, a part of the wall from its upper rim and 0.70 m downwards is a modern repair; the same is repeated 2.50 - 1.80 m from the south-west corner, in 1.00 - 2.80 m height. This later repair might constitute a repair after a robbery excavation. At the south-west corner, a 1.30 m wide part is covered by plaster, between the floor level and 2.70 m height. Above the plaster, the wall is a modern reconstruction. At floor level, at the south-west corner, two semi-circular shards of ceramic are set one on top of the other, thus forming an oval opening, that reaches through to room a of V 1,3, sloping slightly towards V 1,3, with the dimensions of 0.16 x 0.12 m.
