Season Team

• AIAC_1143 - Vagnari - 2013
  Excavations begun in 2012 in the vicus at Vagnari continued in the summer of 2013. Work concentrated on a stone-built structure (North Building) on the northern edge of the settlement, a tile-roofed building almost 30 m long consisting of a series of rooms and corridors with plastered and painted walls of daub and with floors of beaten earth or mortar. The pottery and coins suggest that this building was in use from the late 1st to the mid-4th c. A.D., although residual pottery and coins of the 3rd to 1st c. B.C. suggest that the imperial vicus was not the first settlement on the site. The excavation shed important new light on the economy of the estate. Substantial evidence has been retrieved for metal working with lead, iron, and bronze and for tile production. Additional significant finds are charred plant material from several contexts inside and outside the building that points to the cultivation of free-threshing bread wheat and durham wheat as cereal crops on the estate. The North Building may have had multiple functions and served as dwellings for slave and/or free labour, as well as for the storage of goods and for activities associated with manufacturing and processing. Fieldwork in 2015 will focus on the remains of industrial activity and domestic habitation in this structure and an adjacent southern building at the summit of the hill. The connection between industrial production and domestic habitation is of significant interest and importance in understanding the socio-economic complexities of living and working on an imperial estate. Excavations in the Vagnari cemetery have been underway since 2002 and continued in the summer of 2013. A 5m (East-West) x 16m (North-South) trench (89) was opened to the East of trenches excavated during previous field seasons. Another trench (59), originally excavated in 2009, was reopened to complete the excavation of three tombs. A total of 10 tombs were excavated in 2013, consisting of 9 inhumations and one cremation burial. Three additional tombs were identified along the eastern baulk of Trench 89, but were not excavated due to time constraints. All but one of the graves contained modest grave goods, similar in quality and quantity to items recovered in previous years, with the notable exception of a large number of grave goods found in the cremation burial. Cremation burials are relatively infrequent in this cemetery, with only 3 uncovered to-date out of a total of 108 excavated burials. All 3 cremations date to the same time period as inhumation burials in the cemetery (2nd century AD), but the greater number and grander quality of grave goods found in these cremations suggests that wealthier individuals at Vagnari may have opted for the practice of cremation. Preliminary osteological analysis indicates that 5 adults, 3 children, and 2 infants (i.e., less than 1 year) were buried in this part of the cemetery. Ongoing bioarchaeological research at this site is investigating geographic origins, diet, and health of the people living in this rural Roman settlement.
• AIAC_3623 - Pompei, Insula VI.1 - 2006
  Insula VI.1 lies at the north-western corner of Pompeii and is bounded by the Via Consolare and the Vicolo di Narciso. It was originally uncovered to the eruption level in 1770/71 and 1783-9. It was excavated as a summer school to train students (he Anglo-American Project at Pompeii AAPP) between 1996 and 2006. The aim was to excavate the area of the entire insula to natural. The only areas where complete excavation was not achieved were where there were extant mosaic floors, or where health and safety concerns prevented the exploration of small deep trenches. At the same time a full record of the standing walls was carried out. All of the spoil was sieved resulting in very full artefact recovery, and a large-scale environmental programme was undertaken. At the time of the eruption in AD 79 the insula contained two large atrium houses (the Casa delle Vestali VI.1.6-8/24-6) and the Casa del Chirurgo (VI.1.9-10), an inn with a garden dining area (VI.1.1/4), several bars facing onto the Via Consolare (VI.1. 2-3, VI.1.5, VI.1.16-7/21, VI.1.18/20), a shrine (VI.1.13/22), a shop (VI.1.11-2) and an industrial area (VI.1.14-15/21), with a well and later a public fountain at its tip (VI.1.19). The excavations were able to show how the insula was developed, with the two houses providing the core of the early occupation and the other areas of the insula being in-filled afterwards. The use of the space within these other parts of the insula changed over time with a notable early feature being industrial processes that required large tanks which originally fronted the Via Consolare. Some of these developments have been outlined in Jones and Robinson 2004, 2005a, 2005b, 2008. Specialist work started whilst the excavation was underway, and has continued since with final publications starting to appear. The coin assemblage has been published in full (see Hobbs 2013), and the monograph on the Casa del Chirurgo (Anderson et al forthcoming) will go the publishers early in 2015.