The 2017 season of excavation stretched for 2.5 weeks starting 5-31-17. The aim of our work was to gain further insight into the development of the complex as well as understanding its layout at the time of the eruption. For this we excavated a total of 6 trenches (opb 25-30) during our season. The following paragraphs summarize the initial results from each unit.

OPB 25
We excavated this unit in the narrow corridor of space 15bis. Our initial approach to this area was to see whether the two drains running in OPB 15 in space 10bis continued through the wall dividing the spaces. After recovering various layers of fill we decided to stop the excavation for a lack of any architectural remains. This means that the previous drains through the area were thoroughly demolished when workers built the rooms on the southeastern side of the complex. What these drains were serving remains unknown for now.
OPB 26
We located this unit in room 14 in order to chase the drain continuing south from the channel we recovered in unit opb 3 a few years ago. Our aim was to understand the relationship between the walls of space 14 and the drain and therefore the relation of these spaces with the wider complex. At this point it is clear that the walls—those separating room 14 with the peristyle and room 14 from 8bis— respected the drain and therefore must at least be contemporaneous to its operation. Nowhere in the masonry is there an evident sign of breakage or reconstruction of the walls.
The drain itself sat beneath at least four separate surfaces. The oldest was a thin layer of white calcium, which seems to be related to the drain’s first construction. Above this surface, we recovered a fill/prep layer used for another floor level. A further fill seems to have functioned as a prep layer or bed for the final cocciopesto floor in the room. We cannot discount that the prep layer was part of an earlier floor that was in use for some time.
OPB 27
The aim of this unit was to clean up and recover the ancient floor level on the NE side of the peristyle (space 18bis). We recovered three floor levels, each very thin. The stylobate of the colonnade revealed another cistern-head just as the one located to the west and excavated with unit 10. OPB 28
The aim of this unit was to examine the roman floor level on the exterior of room 10 bis where in past years we excavated unit 15. It was clear right from the beginning that we had to dig through a thick layer of eruption debris, which the Italian excavations had left in place undisturbed. After removing the floor and its layer of fill, we recovered another surface of hard concrete that seems unrelated to the barrel vaulted spaces. Beneath it was a firm floor of coccio-pesto floor. In the eastern portion of the unit, we recovered two foundation walls, which are the continuation of the two major foundation walls recovered in unit 15 to the north.
OPB 29
This unit was located in space 48, which is the western most of the town houses. By far it is the most complete and undisturbed stratigraphy of the spaces in this area of the site. We cut two slots through the either side of the house in order to examine the various floor levels and periods it contained. We identified at least two distinct floor levels associated with the house, with a possible earlier third.
OPB 30
The aim this unit was to chase the top of the walls separating space 37 and 29, and to find the extent of the building on its eastern side. Unfortunately, we did not obtain many results because the pyroclastic was still and unexpectedly very deep.