Season Team

• AIAC_2461 - Insula IX.3 di Marco Lucrezio - 2005
  In 2005, the project’s work concentrated on the northern parts of the Casa di Marco Lucrezio. Excavations were continued in the garden and several waste pits containing mostly wall painting fragments and some pottery were discovered. The Fourth Style painting fragments found at the bottom of one of the pits next to the fountain complex date the deposit to the last phase of Pompeii and confirm the late date of the visible garden arrangement. The trench by the pappamonte wall in the southern part of the garden was extended, but only two new later waste pits were discovered. Buildings archaeological work was extended to the house IX 3,24 where excavations were carried out in two places in the atrium and in the area between the garden and house 24. A sequence of three plaster floors was discovered in the northern atrium and the same sequence was also found in the southern trench. The fill layers between the floors raised the general ground level ca. 50 cm possibly causing also changes in the walls, which had to be raised as well. The finds from the contents of a large waste pit – or possibly a filled cistern – in the middle of the atrium under the lowermost floor dates the beginning of the sequence only roughly to the 1st century BC. Some 3rd–4th century BC pottery was discovered in the southern trench just above a sequence of layers of volcanic ash.
• AIAC_2461 - Insula IX.3 di Marco Lucrezio - 2006
  The work in the Casa di Marco Lucrezio continued with check-ups of the archaeological data as well as with documentation of wall paintings. Buildings archaeology was conducted in house IX 3,25 west of the large domus and excavations were carried out in two places in the narrow street north of the city block. The eastern trench was located near the junction of houses 24 and 25 and the western one close to the northwestern corner of the city block. The eastern trench revealed several consecutive street layers particularly in the sidewalk as well as a large and late waste pit extending partially under the Central Bath north of the street. The lowermost deposits of the sidewalk revealed a foundation trench of the travertine ashlar façade of house 24 and the finds date the building to the late 3rd– early 2nd century BC. The western trench revealed several waster pits topped by several street layers. In addition, a masonry reservoir, possibly a water cistern or a cess pit, was discovered continuing under the sidewalk. House IX 3,25 is a small row house with travertine framework walls in the façade and eastern parts and mostly trachyte rubble work walls otherwise. Cleaning of the floor surfaces revealed an earlier plaster floor ca. 20 cm below the last phase floor as well as a completely demolished room in the western part of the house between the current atrium and possible garden area. A small trench was placed in the southwestern corner of the atrium and this revealed a clay and stone wall decorated with painted wall plaster, but almost completely razed. This was the northwestern corner of the demolished room. The trench revealed also that the western wall of the atrium was built over a water channel or a gutter indicating changes in the room arrangements between houses 25 and IX 3,1–2. In other parts of the house, a small toilet was found in the southeastern corner and it was probably the only roofed area in the southern part of the house. A waste pit was discovered north of the toilet, but this was not excavated.
• AIAC_2461 - Insula IX.3 di Marco Lucrezio - 2009
  After a two-year break, field work was continued in city block IX 3. The work concentrated on buildings archaeological analysis and documentation of the visible structures and no excavation was carried out apart from cleaning floor levels of modern soil layers. The work concentrated on House IX 3,1–2 in the northwestern corner of the city block. The house features three building phases: the oldest ones found only in the northeastern corner in travertine framework and major part of the walls consisting of trachyte/travertine rubble work. Travertine ashlars have been used as door posts and piers in these areas. The last walls in the peristyle area and in the west façade consist of rubble work of reused materials as well as brick and block work in piers and pilasters. The house features First and Third Style paintings as well as Second Style mosaic floors. In the last phases of Pompeii, the front of the house was turned into a workshop by adding heated vats into the atrium. In addition, one of the rooms in the western front range was turned into a shop. The new work was able to confirm and clarify many features seen and poorly reported in earlier research particularly in the peristyle area the service quarters in the southeastern part of the house. The most interesting new observations concern changes in the floor levels, which were noted in the northeastern and southeastern parts of the house. In the north, the floor level had been lowered for ca. 80 cm and in the south it had been raised for slightly more. The reason for the lowering was probably to make an easier entrance to a probable dining room with a biclinium created maybe during the 1st century BC from the peristyle area. The reason for the higher floor was the need to create two reservoirs under the floor: one to collect rainwater from the peristyle area and the other to service the toilet.
• AIAC_2461 - Insula IX.3 di Marco Lucrezio - 2010
  Nel 2010 le indagini sono proseguite nella parte occidentale dell’_insula_, nelle case IX 3.3 e IX 3.13. Come nel 2009, il lavoro si è concentrato sull’analisi degli edifici e la documentazione delle strutture visibili non è stato condotto nessuno scavo a parte la pulizia dell’attuale piano di calpestio. Inoltre è proseguita la documentazione delle pitture e il lavoro di analisi dei frammenti di pittura muraria provenienti dagli scavi del 2003-2006. Priorità degli studi sulle case sono le _tabernae_ o la combinazione delle _tabernae_, quartieri di produzione e di vita. La sola casa con una funzione chiara è il panificio IX 3,10-12 nell’angolo sud-occidentale dell’insula. In base alle analisi della tecnica costruttiva (tegole, piccoli blocchi di pietra) e materiali (travertino con gran misto di pietre e tegole), la maggior parte dell’insula occidentale è stata ricostruita relativamente tardi rispetto alla storia di Pompei. Alcuni dei muri sono stati ricostruiti, usando la linea delle vecchie mura come fondazioni. La pulizia del piano pavimentale ha rivelato alcune istallazioni idriche precedentemente sconosciute, come le cisterne nelle case IX 3,3 and IX 3,7. Inoltre è stato scoperto che alcune delle cisterne note in precedenza, come quelle nelle case IX 3,8 and IX 3,13 erano andate fuori uso e riempite con macerie della casa e terreno. Finora non è stata trovata nell’_insula_ nessuna cisterna funzionante come impluvio. Le funzioni della case in genere non potrebbero essere chiarificate base al solo lavoro sul campo, ma in due casi (case IX 3,8 e IX 3,13) la vecchia interpretazione della produzione commerciale del cibo viene rafforzata.
• AIAC_2461 - Insula IX.3 di Marco Lucrezio - 2011
  The is no summary for this season.
• AIAC_2710 - Pompei - 2010
  In 2010 work was continued in the west part of the insula, in houses IX 3,3 through to house IX 3,13. As in 2009, the work concentrated on buildings archaeological analysis and documentation of the visible structures and no excavation was carried out apart from cleaning floor levels of modern soil layers. In addition to this, the documentation of the remaining wall paintings was continued and work on analyzing fragments of wall paintings from 2003–2006 excavations was continued. Majority of the houses studies are shops or combinations of shops, workshops and living quarters. The only house with a clear function was the bakery IX 3,10-12 in the southwest corner of the _insula_. Based on analysis of the building techniques (brick, small stone blocks) and materials (travertine with plenty of mixed stones and brick), most of the western insula has been rebuilt relatively late in the history of Pompeii. Some of the walls had been rebuilt using the old wall line as a foundation. Clearance at floor level revealed some previously unknown water installations, e.g., cisterns in houses IX 3,3 and IX 3,7. In addition, it was discovered that some of the previously known cisterns, such as the ones in houses IX 3,8 and IX 3,13 were out of use and filled with household waste or soil. So far, no functioning impluvium–cistern combinations have been found in the insula. The functions of the houses could not usually be clarified based on this field work, but in two cases (houses IX 3,8 and IX 3,13) the old interpretation of the commercial food production was strengthened.
• AIAC_442 - Regio IX.3 - 2004
  Lo scopo del progetto è quello di studiare la storia dell'edificio e l'uso dell'Insula IX 3 a Pompei. In aggiunta al lavoro svolto sul campo, incentrato sulla documentazione delle strutture emergenti sul sito verranno raccolti tutti dati d'archivio disponibili. Il centro di Pompei è rimasto finora relativamente poco studiato e, in questo senso lo studio dell'insula possiede un grande potenziale per comprendere lo sviluppo urbano e la vita di questa parte di Pompei. Nella prima fase del progetto si studia la domus IX 3,5/24, casa di Marcus Lucretius, che è stata scavata nel 1846-7. L'indagine è iniziata nel 2002 e l'obiettivo per la pubblicazione finale è il 2007. Alla fine del 2004 è stata completata la documentazione base delle 20 stanze su 34 della casa, coprendo in questo modo la parte meridionale della struttura. Piccoli saggi di scavo sono stati effettuati nell'atrio, nel giardino e nella cucina della casa. I risultati attuali indicano un lungo periodo d'uso del sito compreso verosimilmente tra il VI secolo a.C. e il 79 d.C. Il muro più antico in tufo di pappamonte è stato trovato nel settembre 2004 nel giardino. Almeno nelle parti settentrionale e orientale della casa sono conservati molti resti forse della probabile fase in calcare del Sarno di III secolo a.C. La parte occidentale della casa è stata praticamente ricostruita probabilmente nel I secolo d.C., ma al di sotto dei livelli pavimentali è stata rinvenuta l'evidenza di un precedente atrio della casa con un orientamento lievemente diverso. Nel maggio del 2005 i lavori si concentreranno verso la parte settentrionale del complesso (Casa IX 3,24), che al momento sembra essere la casa più antica dell'insula. (Paavo Castrén, Eeva-Maria Viitanen)