Hearth

Thomas Staub

Benches: The hearth bench in front of the west wall is 0.85 m deep and 0.95 m high. Its front side is built of mainly Sarno stone and fewer pieces of tuff and shows two semi-circular niches, framed by oblique standing blocks of the same material. The niches are 0.70 m wide and 0.80 m high, and served probably for the storage of wood and charcoal for the fire. The upper side of the bench is partly covered by pieces of tiles, at some places these are missing. Towards the south and the west, small walls (height 0.10 m, depth 0.12 m) are set against the walls of the room, probably to protect these from the heat and the glow. At the eastern edge, towards the room, imprints at the edge in the southern part indicate a similar arrangement at this side as well, here probably to evade the risk that burning or glowing charcoal or wood falls on the floor. The bench continues over the corner along the north wall, again sustained by two arched niches, 0.70 m and 0.60 m wide, and composed of the same material as the ones at the western side. On this side, the bench is 0.95 m deep. The middle part of this bench is occupied by the praefurnium.