South Wall

Mats Holmlund

Ground floor
The wall is circa 4.10 m wide and 3.30 m high. The main part of it is constructed in opus incertum, while the west corner and two more parts towards the east corner, are built in opus testaceum. The incertum part of the wall is made up of (mainly) lava, limestone, and cruma, but it also contains some bits of tufa, brick and tile. The western testaceum part is "crenellated", circa 1.30 m wide, with indentations between 0.25 and 0.30 m deep. The height of these "dents" varies; the first is 0.30 m, the second 0.35 m, and the third 0.30 m high, and since and they all consists of seven rows of tiles, the size is due to the thickness of the tiles. Correspondingly, the indentations vary in size; the first is 0.25 m, the second 0.28 m, and the third 0.34 m high, and they consist of six, six and eight rows of tiles, respectively. The western testaceum part reaches 2.85 m from the floor level. The east testaceum parts consists of two "doorposts" surrounding a closed off doorway into room 1 of taberna V.1,31. Both doorposts are circa 0.60 m wide. The east is approximately 0.75 m high and the west circa 0.90 m high. The "back" of each doorpost is "crenellated", but in a sort of wavy, diminishing way.

The closed door is circa 0.70 m wide, but it is impossible to determine how high it was originally, since it was blocked and cut off in Antiquity. The doorway is "filled" with mortar and rubble from the floor up until 0.90 m, where it ends. Above the closed door, there is a (repaired) breach into room 1 of taberna V.1,31, that probably was made by the bourbon excavators in the 18th century. It is circa 1.10 m wide and 1.80 m high.
In the middle of the wall at the floor level, there is an arch over a water conduit that is located circa 1.85 m from the west corner and approximately 0.15 m wide. The bottom of the drain was circa 0.40 m under the floor level.
There are some spolia in the wall. The first is a piece of cocciopesto floor in the area below the arch. It is located circa 0.50 m from the floor level and 2.05 m from the west corner. The cocciopesto floor that the piece came from was between 0.05 and 0.06 m thick. There are also two pieces of tile in the wall; the first is located above the arch, circa 1.90 m from the west corner and 1.30 m from the floor level, and the second is located circa 0.85 from the west corner and 3.00 m from the ground. In the east corner there are two small pieces of tile besides each other. They are located circa 0.10/0.40 m from the east corner and 1.80 m from the floor level. Another two pieces of tile are located above the arch, 1.60 m from the east corner and 1.60 m from the ground. Beside them (at the same height, but circa 2.10 m from the east corner), there is a brick. The last spolia is a stone that has a piece of pinkish plaster stuck to it. It is located in the east corner, circa 1.70 m from the floor level.

The mortar of the incertum part of the wall is yellowish grey and contains grains of lava and limestone. The same is true for the testaceum parts of the wall, though the grains in these parts are a little bit smaller. The mortar of the breach from the bourbon excavation is grey and contains grains of lava and limestone, but also some lapilli, bits of terracotta, and cruma. Modern mortar has been applied to the wall above and below the arch and above the water channel.

There are three areas with extant plaster on the wall. The first and largest area stretches from the lower western corner, along the western testaceum part, and then over and along the upper half of the wall until the east corner end of the wall. Nothing except the subsurface of the plaster remains in this area, which is held in place by a band of modern, grey mortar. The second area is located at the west part of the testaceum doorpost, where it covers most of the construction from circa 0.60 m from the floor level up until is cut off by the "repaired breach". The third area partly covers the east doorpost and stretches from circa 0.30 to 1.50 from the ground.

Upper floor
The wall is 4.00 m wide and 2.00 m high at its highest point. It is built in opus incertum and made up of lava, limestone, and cruma. The wall of the upper floor is approximately 0.40 m thick (which is circa 0.20 m thinner than the wall of the ground floor).

There are six beam holes in the wall. They are all located circa 3.40 m from the floor level. The first is located in the east corner and is circa 0.45 m wide and 0.30 m high. The second is located 0.70 m from the east corner and is also 0.45 m wide and 0.30 m high. The third beam hole is located 1.40 m from the east corner and measures circa 0.50 by 0.30 m. The last three beam holes measure 0.30 by 0.30 m and are located 2.20 m, 2.75 m, and 3.30 m from the east corner, respectively.

The mortar of the upper floor wall seems to be the usual yellowish grey kind that contains grains of lava and limestone.