West Wall

Renée Forsell

The wall is built in op. incertum consisting of mostly limestone, some yellow tufa, cruma and in the upper part of the wall a few pieces of terra cotta all set in a yellowish buff mortar. In the upper part of the wall some stones have fallen out of the wall and there is a repair in the middle of the wall where the stones are surrounded by modern mortar.
There are two rows of beam holes. The first row of five square beam holes is located c. 2.7-3.0m above floor level. They are c. 0.4m wide and placed c. 0.4-0.5m apart. The two southernmost are partly filled with stones and mortar. The upper row of equally five beam holes is located at the height of c. 3.15-3.40m above floor level. The holes have an upper rounded surface but are uneven in shape due to damage of the wall. The distance is wider between the first and the second holes to the N than the between the rest. There are no corresponding holes in the opposite W wall but the upper part of the W wall is heavily reconstructed so the beam holes might have disappeared during restoration work. They are however on a level corresponding to the beam holes in rooms 5 and 6 and the level of the ceiling indicated by the level of the wall plaster. This is an indication that they really are related to an upper floor construction in this room.
The lower row of beam holes on the other hand do not belong to a second floor construction in room 7 as the wall plaster in the S corner and on the adjoining walls reaches a higher level. Instead they must have been part of an earlier second floor construction in taberna 31.

There are remains of wall plaster on a large part of the wall from floor level up to the beam holes. The plaster is damaged along the floor and it is missing in the middle of the wall. The plaster is much weathered and dirty grey, more so higher up on the wall than in the dado. In the S corner the plaster continues onto the S wall where it continues higher than the lower beam holes. The wall plaster is partly surrounded by modern support plaster.