Field Campaign 2007

Prof. Anne-Marie Leander, SU: project director

SUMMER CAMPAIGN (9th July - 27th July)
Doc Arja Karivieri, SU: joint field director
FD Renée Forsell, SU: joint field director

Michel Hagedorn, GU: assistant
Lena Kristensson, GU: assistant

Abstract:
The summer campaign 2007 under the joint direction of Arja Karivieri and Renée Forsell was a study season with only supplementary fieldwork.

Work in Casa di Caecilius Iucundus (V 1,26) and the Annex (V 1,23)
The work that was carried out by Karivieri and Forsell in Casa di Caecilius Iucundus and the Annex was more or less to verify and supplement earlier studies. In addition, the documentation of the tablinum of V 1,26 and the façade of both houses was concluded.

Other activities
All small finds from the investigations 2000-2006 were photographed. Two days were also spent on locating and studying the finds collected from the 1875 excavations and now stored in Museo archeologico nazionale di Napoli. The 1874-1876 excavation diaries were studied at Archivio Storico, also in Naples, and library studies were undertaken in Rome both before and after the field season.


AUTUMN CAMPAIGN (September - October)
FD Margareta Staub Gierow, SU, stationed at Archäologisches Institut, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg: field director.

FD Henrik Boman, SU: archaeologist
FD Monica Nilsson, SU: archaeologist
Thomas Staub, SU, stationed at Archäologisches Institut, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg: archaeologist

Ezequiel Pinto-Guillaume: architectural drawing, ceramics specialist, chief finds illustrator
Carin Pettersson, conservator: plaster specialist
Julia Habetzeder, SU: draughtsperson
Hans Thorwid, photographer
Carola Liebe-Harkort, SU: osteologist
Dominic Ingemark, LU: glass specialist
Kjell Persson, SU: georadar specialist

Mats Holmlund, SU: assistant
Susanna Blåndman, SU: assistant
Ann Lundberg, volunteer
Hans Hurra Rauch, volunteer

Abstract:
The autumn campaign of 2007 concluded the study of the northern part of the insula and the buildings for which Margareta Staub Gierow, Henrik Boman and Monica Nilsson are responsible. Thomas Staub continued work in Casa del Torello di bronzo (V 1,7).

Work in Casa del Torello di bronzo (V 1,7)
Thomas Staub, assisted by Rauch and Blåndman, was able to complete most of the investigations of the complex water conduits. Several hitherto unknown floor surfaces and structures were uncovered during cleaning. He then continued the study of masonry and building components while Thorwid started the systematic photographic documentation of Casa del Torello di bronzo.

Work in Building complexes V 1,13 and V 1,14-16
Details for the study of the building history were supplemented in both buildings by Boman and Nilsson while section drawings were carried out by Pinto-Guillaume.

Work in Casa degli Epigrammi greci (V 1,18) and Tabernae 17 and 19
Staub Gierow complemented her descriptions of masonry and wall decorations in rooms that had not been available for study earlier. Cleaning in the eastern portico of the peristyle yielded new information for the study of the water conduits and Thorwid concluded his documentation by photographing the exterior of the backwall. Staub Gierow had Tabernae 17 and 19 cleaned, with the assistance of Boman and Nilsson, during the last days of the campaign. A brief study was therefore possible, but further investigations are desirable.

Other activities
A georadar, or ground-penetrating radar, investigation was carried out by Persson both in selected areas inside the buildings and on the streets bordering the insula. The expectation is to gain information on several issues: the possible changes of the street system, the development of the water conduits and the presence of both prehistoric layers and earlier, now buried buildings. A borer worked by hand was also applied to sample the contents of wells and cesspits, but it proved to be an impossible task due to the contents of the hollows, i.e. pumice.
Ingemark stayed for a week to study the glass finds of the project, Thorwid completed his photographic documentation of all buildings so far included in the project, Pinto-Guillaume and Habetzeder completed the measurements and plans of all pavements around the insula and Liebe-Harkort supplemented her osteological study. The processing of pottery from the peristyle project in Casa degli Epigrammi greci was concluded with a preliminary catalogue by Pinto-Guillaume and Lundberg, whereas Nilsson also finished her preliminary catalogue of the prehistoric pottery.
Some of the specialist reports (plaster by Pettersson, pottery by Pinto-Guillaume, Lindqvist and Lundberg, bones by Liebe-Harkort and the 2004-2005 peristyle project by Robinson) were discussed, while the whole body of plans (mainly by Savini, Pinto-Guillaume and Pieri-Agopian) was reviewed. Corrections and additions were then made, although the plans will require more work.

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