North Wall

Renée Forsell

The wall is built in op. incertum consisting of mainly limestone and some tufa in the E part. In the W part of the wall there is larger amount of lava and cruma among the limestone. There are also some terracotta spolia and three pieces of Apennine limestone in the wall. There were three holes in the lower part of the wall, two round ones, c. 10cm in diam., and a third where cover tiles were put, probably in modern times. After the restoration in 2010/11 these holes are gone. There was also a vertical crack in the middle part of the wall c. 1.40 from the E corner. This might be due to the fact that the E part of the wall was built in an early construction phase of V 1,7, thus belonging to a period when the house V 1,3 was not yet built. The wall has been subject to a lot of modern repair and between most of the stones there are now thick layers of modern mortar.

There are four sections where wall plaster, all in rather bad condition, is preserved. Two sections are located, one lower, one higher along the W corner, both continues on to the W wall. One section of plaster if found high up in the middle of the wall. Finally the fourth and largest section is preserved along the E corner. Behind this several layers of plaster coating can be seen. Except for a faint red vertical stripe c. 1.15m from the E corner no traces of decoration could be found.