In the 2022 season excavators worked on three trenches. Two of these trenches, OPB 4 and OPB 6, were old ones that we reopened and extended. Another, trench OPB 44, focused on an unexcavated room 38 that we had only partially investigated as part of OPB 4 in the past.
OPB 4 The excavation of trench 4 began with the removal of a substantial layer of backfill that was the result of our previous excavation. This process included the removal of the backfill on top of the badly degraded cocciopesto floor of space 21. The 79 AD surface was pockmarked with a series of drill holes that were the result of the corings carried out with the construction of the school. The excavation of the western portion of the unit occurred in room 39. It is here that the removal of a degraded portion of the 79 AD floor that acted as the threshold to room 21 produced an important series of finds that help us date this portion of the building. The first was a Dupondius minted under the emperor Caligula in 37-38 AD. It lay in a layer of rubble composed of intentionally deposited demolition of four style fresco schematically imitating the second style. These finds securely date the pavement between these two space to after 45 CE. The continued excavation of space 39 revealed the continuation of the foundation wall (04104) uncovered previously. The finds associated with this wall indicate a pre-Augustan date although further study is necessary.
OPB 44
The excavation here began with the removal of modern overburden that covered the ancient floor level. Our aim was to understand the composition of that floor and the buildup of the area with the walled-up door between space 22 and 38. The floor of the space was simple beaten earth floor cut in both corners with ancient intrusions. These allowed of our further exploration of the area. The team first encountered an earlier floor associated with the previous use of the spaces. Beneath this we encountered a much earlier wall that had little or nothing to do with the current arrangement of spaces. The wall ran through the unit and featured a prominent return to the south, suggesting an earlier space, perhaps the presence of a workshop.
OPB 6
On the south side of the complex the team continued its excavation of space 44 with the re-excavation and extension of trench 6 toward the east. The eastern extension revealed the richest evidence as we sought to clarify the course of a wall running in a north-south direction uncovered in our previous exploration of the unit. The team first encountered a thick layer of ash and pyroclastic flows in the eastern part of the unit. Some of this context spilled over at a steep angle over to wall supporting the colonnade on the southern part of the unit. We were able to chase it over the wall up to a depth of about two meters before it became too dangerous. The final context was one that featured pumice mixed in with beach sand, indicating the presence of a shore and that the colonnade wall was a seawall. The seawall also cuts the n-s wall, which in turn, prevented us to recover the extent of the previous building. The seawall also cutoff of the sewer suggesting that the main water lines feeding the complex to the north, including the latrine, were largely out of action at the time of the eruption. It is possible that the drain was rerouted in this phase.