Summary (English)
Two trenches were excavated and surface cleaning undertaken in buildings V,3,8 and V,4,6-8 in order to complete the study of these structures.
In the house – V,3,8 and V,4,6-8si the work begun in 2008 continued, with the excavation of the structures used for the baking activities. The archaeological evidence which emerged from the complete excavation of the rear section of the bakery completed the picture of the substantial restorations being undertaken throughout the structure, which remained unfinished and buried by the material from the 79 A.D. eruption.The rear of the bakery was not in use at the time of the eruption (heaps of lime and deposited materials, incomplete flooring, work surfaces), as seen in numerous other commercial and craft-working activities at Pompeii. The upper levels were the result of secondary depositions of pyroclastic flows on a bed of pumice, distributed over an irregular and heavily sloped surface. Some layers had frequent inclusions (lapilli of various sizes), mixed with a sediment of sand and ash, which was friable or compact. In other layers showed only occasional pumice or none at all. In fact, the uppermost secondary deposit was only partially cut by digging operations in the 19th and 20th centuries. The room contained a dough-making machine made of stone with its iron mechanism still well-preserved, with a wooden plank placed so as to form an ‘L’, of which the masonry supporting pillars remained. The floor was a beaten-earth surface. During the 2009 campaign excavation continued inside building V,4,6-8 with trenches 2 and 3 and the cleaning of surfaces, with the aim of defining the dating for the creation of the complex and the functioning of the thermopolium-caupona in the final phases of the town’s life.
Trench 1 produced very fragmentary evidence, badly damaged by the eruption, that was brought to light by the removal of the lapilli from inside the large cut, probably opened for the suspended restoration work (of which there were traces throughout the building). The deepest layers corresponded to the placing in position of reused materials (a series of Punic amphorae) having the combined function of increasing stability and providing drainage. The parallel-placed amphorae, in continuous rows, were bedded in a support of waterproof mortar with U-shaped housings. Even considering the numerous episodes of restructuring, it seemed clear that this structure was in use within the first half of the 1st century A.D.The evidence uncovered in building V,4,6-8 showed a continuous stratigraphic sequence datable to between the 1st century B.C. and 79 A.D., preceded by an earlier phase, datable to at least the second Samnite period. In the 1st century A.D. the thermopolium-caupona was perfectly inserted into the commercial fabric of this sector of the town. Moreover, the overall picture gained from the 2009 excavations in rooms 1 and G confirms that in the phases between 62 A.D. and 79 A.D. restoration work became necessary (on the structures and drainage system), together with more substantial building work, including the installation of the cella vinaria in room F, which housed the dolia defossa.
- Annapaola Zaccaria Ruggiu - Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia 
Director
Team
- Andrea Starace - Università degli Studi del Salento, Lecce
- Annalisa De Franzoni - Università Ca’ Foscari, Venezia
- Maura Marella - Università degli Studi di Milano
- Daniela Cottica - Università Ca’ Foscari, Venezia
- Chiara Maratini - Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia
- Anna Casellato - Università Ca’ Foscari, Venezia
- Benedetta Piussi - Università degli Studi di Trieste
- Ketty Russo - Università degli Studi di Trieste
- Massimilano Laurora - Università Ca’ Foscari, Venezia
- Sofia Turk - Università Ca’ Foscari, Venezia
Research Body
- Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità e del Vicino Oriente Antico
Funding Body
- MIUR
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