The 2021 season was relatively short with only two weeks of actual digging happening on site. In addition, the covid pandemic resulted in a reduced crew with only seven full time field staff present on site.
OPB 42 Trench OPB 42 had as aim to recover more info about the exterior space 44 on the south side of the complex. The team proceeded to remove a layer of pumice ejected from the eruption of 79 AD. A new layer consisting of a hardened pyroclastic flow emerged from beneath the lapilli. A wall oriented north-south was embedded in this context. The team proceeded with the removal of the brown soil associated with the final occupation of the area. Beneath it a new layer emerged consisting of a hard packed concrete floor with an almost opus signinum kind of consistency. The removal of the concrete floor level revealed more architecture in the form of a new concrete wall foundation running north-south. The floor that covered it featured many rounded pebbles and ceramics as a packing that in turn lay upon a fine layer of crushed ceramics and rocks. Further digging on the southeastern corner of the trench also revealed a previous floor level, likely associated with the first use of 42008 as well as another wall below it.
OPB 43 Trench OPB 43 was located in the southeastern corner of the peristyle. Its aim was to examine the development of the area as well as any possible stratigraphic relationships with the interior spaces. The ancient surface contained patches and traces of burning. It also displayed a heavy viscous matrix likely because of the amphora pitching operations that happened in this area of the site. The team then proceeded to remove this floor level, which seems to have witnessed several build up deposits over time in the form of micro strata associated with its use. Below the fill level related to its construction, the team recovered another floor composed of a broken white plaster stamped down on the beaten earth. This floor was badly broken and somewhat inconsistent throughout the unit., suggesting its ephemeral use and perhaps its association with the construction of the complex. This same layer of broken plaster covered the brick floor in room 15-suggsting their contemporaneous use. Below the earlier floor level, the team removed a fill of heavily broken and destroyed CBM deposited in antiquity as a fill layer and packing level. It lay on a broken and beaten pyroclastic flow that presented evidence of numerous punctures.