In domus VI 2, 14 (the House of the Amazons) two trenches were dug with the aim of investigating its earliest occupation levels. The excavation of the cubiculum south of the fauces intercepted the foundation trenches of the western and southern perimeter walls in opus africanum containing 3rd century B.C. material.
In the atrium three overlying floor levels were traced, datable to between the 3rd century B.C. to the first half of the 1st century A.D.
The original layout of the house, as shown by study of the vertical stratigraphy and specifically placed trenches, can be dated to mid Samnite period. The many alterations made to the building during its occupation did not greatly change its look or overall size. The architectural scheme of the house’s first phase was based around an atrium , without transversely arranged side rooms, onto which two rooms situated at the sides of the fauces and a vegetable garden to the rear opened. The atrium ’s unusual layout finds comparisons with 3rd century houses, such as the contemporary House of Narcissus (VI 2, 24), situated to the rear, which has a similar plan or the better known “proto-House of the Centaur”. (Valentina Befani)