Field Campaign 2004

Prof Anne-Marie Leander Touati, SU: project director

SUMMER CAMPAIGN
Doc Arja Karivieri, SU: joint field director
FD Renée Forsell, SU: joint field director

FK Ezequiel Pinto-Guillaume: architectural drawings, ceramics specialist and chief finds illustrator
Emanuel Savini, SU: total station survey
Carin Pettersson, conservator: plaster specialist
Richard Holmgren, UU: draughtsperson

Michel Hagedorn, GU: assistant
Berit Kaussel, GU: assistant
Lena Kristensson, GU: assistant
Mónica Saldias, UU: assistant

Abstract:
The summer campaign of 2004 was concentrated to the continued work in Casa di Caecilius Iucundus (V 1,26) under the joint direction of Arja Karivieri and Renée Forsell.

Work in Casa di Caecilius Iucundus (V 1,26) and Annex (V 1,23)
Forsell and Karivieri concluded the documentation of the rooms that surround the atrium and then continued with the rooms surrounding the peristyle garden. Masonry, wall paintings, floor decorations, stucco friezes, thresholds and water conduits were studied. Excavation in the area of the peristyle yielded new discoveries: the peristyle garden has been rebuilt several times with different types of water conduits and fountains. Also, the number of columns and their colour schemes have varied during the lifetime of the building.
Measurements were taken and plans were drawn by Pinto-Guillaume, assisted by Kaussel, Hagedorn and Kristensson. Work included the drawing of plans of the cocciopesto floors of rooms s and t. Savini continued the digital documentation with total station in the southern part of the building, whereas Holmgren concluded the 1:1 documentation of the wall paintings in triclinium o, triclinium l and cubiculum s, as always assisted by Kaussel.
The results of the final report on plaster analysis in V 1,23 were discussed by Karivieri, Forsell and Pettersson and it was agreed that the plaster analyses support the results of the masonry analyses. Plaster sampling then begun in V 1,26, but the samples have not yet been analysed. Rooms o and p in V 1,23 are yet to be documented – dumped waste obstruct further work for now.


AUTUMN CAMPAIGN (30th Aug – 9th Oct)
Dr Phil Margareta Staub Gierow, SU, stationed at Archäologisches Institut, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg: field director

FD Henrik Boman, SU: archaeologist
FD Monica Nilsson, SU: archaeologist

Ezequiel Pinto-Guillaume: architectural drawing, ceramics specialist, chief finds illustrator
Emanuel Savini, SU: total station survey
Maria Johansson, GU: total station survey
Carin Pettersson, conservator: plaster specialist
Thomas Staub, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg: assistant, logistics

Anna Lindqvist, GU: assistant
Karin Lundkvist, GU: assistant
Julia Habetzeder, SU: trainee
Mónica Saldías, UU: trainee
Mats Bergman, GU: trainee
Robert Hallström, GU: trainee
Marie-Laetitia Pieri-Agopian, Université de Provence: volunteer, draughtsperson

Joint project in the peristyle of Casa degli Epigrammi greci:
Mark Robinson of the Museum of Natural History in Oxford, with Jennifer Robinson and a group of three students from Oxford.

Abstract:
Work continued in Building complex V 1,14-16 under the responsibility of Henrik Boman and Monica Nilsson and in Casa degli Epigrammi greci (V 1,18) under the responsibility of Margareta Staub Gierow. New undertakings were the excavation of the peristyle garden in Casa degli Epigrammi greci in cooperation with Mark Robinson and the cleaning and documentation of Building complex V 1,13 by Henrik Boman and Monica Nilsson. In the latter building, excavation inside a well yielded prehistoric layers.

Work in Building complex V 1,13
Boman and Nilsson started work in V 1,13 by removing the large waste dumps that had been left in the back-rooms, as was the case with V 1,14-16. Bergman and Staub assisted with the manual labour and Vitiello answered for the removal of the soil. Plans were drawn and photographs were taken of the uncovered floors and installations. In room f was a pumice-filled well that was excavated with the help of Saldías four metres down. Robinson saw the opportunity to sample different layers of vulcanic soil and thereby encountered prehistoric pottery fragments. Prehistorian Nilsson studied the finds and estimated them to originate from the time of the Avellino eruption (Early Bronze Age), but samples analysed in Oxford for radiocarbon dating gave a Neolithic date. In between the pottery deposits was a hard layer of volcanic ash.

Work in Building complex V 1,14-16
The unstable wall in the northeastern part of the building had been stabilized with the help of the Soprintendenza and the work of removing the dumped soil could now be terminated with the assistance of Bergman, Staub and the staff of Vitiello. Boman and Nilsson then continued the documentation of the building whereas Pinto-Guillaume and Pieri-Agopian measured and drew plans.

Work in Casa degli Epigrammi greci (V 1,18)
All walls of the economy quarters (q, r, s, t, z, w, v’, v, u, x) have now been documented by Staub Gierow. The results confirm earlier hypotheses on the topographical and chronological development of the building. Room x was of particular interest with features that required further investigation and some excavation was therefore undertaken. Lindqvist continued her study on the water conduits.
The new peristyle project in cooperation with Mark Robinson of the Natural History Museum in Oxford commenced. Lindqvist, Habetzeder and Lundkvist assisted the British team with the garden excavation. Deep trenches were dug in the eastern part of the garden and encountered both remains from earlier building phases and garden finds like sacrificial pits, the remains of a possible wooden altar, flower pots and numerous fragments of pottery. Pettersson sampled and analysed all plaster remains in the peristyle while Pinto-Guillaume measured and drew plans of all excavation units in the garden.

Other activities
Staub continued his study on thresholds and Pettersson supplemented the plaster study in all examined buildings. She also photographed all sampling sites and marked the exact location of each sample on the photographs. Savini and Johansson continued measuring the insula with total station and Pinto-Guillaume studied the shells and also initiated the work of classifying and drawing the pottery which was carried out by Saldías, Habetzeder and Lundkvist.
An independent project is carried out under the aegis of the Swedish Pompeii Project: Karin Fridell-Anter and Marina Weilguni participated during three weeks for their space syntax study of Pompeiian streets.

Report: Margareta Staub Gierow & Renée Forsell
Edited and translated into English by Monica Nilsson