West Wall
Description
Mats Holmlund
The wall consists of two doorposts separated by a threshold. The south doorpost is 0.35 m wide and 2.60 m high, while the north is 0.20 m wide and 2.50 m high. Both doorposts are built in opus testaceum.
Between circa 1.15 to 1.75 m from the ground in the south doorpost and from circa 0.70 to 1.75 in the north doorpost, the tiles of the doorposts are quite brittle and there are several of them missing. From 1.25 m from the ground and up, the north part of the wall seems to be reconstructed or rebuilt with yellowish, modern bricks.
The mortar of both parts of the wall is the usual yellowish grey kind that contains grains of lava and limestone.
A part of the southern doorpost is covered by plaster. The area starts 0.30 m from the ground in the south corner, and ends 2.50 m from the floor level in the same, south corner. At its widest point, the area is 0.25 m wide. The plaster is weathered and there are no decorations, colour pigments or graffiti on the surface. Modern mortar has been applied to the edges of the plaster to keep it from falling down.
No plaster remains on the northern doorpost.
The only feature of the wall is the threshold, which consists of three large cut lava blocks. The southern block is 1.00 m wide and 0.40 m thick, the middle one is 1.15 m wide and 0.40 m thick, and the northern, 1.20 m wide and 0.40 to 0.42 m thick. All blocks have a 0.04 m wide and 0.02 m deep grove cut into the middle of them (lengthwise) and the block furthest to the south also has one pivot hole and two smaller holes for a the "latch" of a smaller door, cut into it.
