House I 10,8

Abstract

The surviving plaster on the walls of this entranceway consisted of a high pink socle, delineated in red, with a white zone above. Ling observed that this overlay an earlier First-Style decoration on the east wall and that it had been patched in antiquity. Breaches are found in both the east and west walls. Outside the entrance, to either side, is a masonry bench (east bench: l.: 2.1 m, d.: 380 mm; west bench: l.: 2.4 m, d.: 460 mm), both much damaged. Finds within the entranceway consisted of bronze and iron studs, undoubtedly from the house door. Remains of plastered decoration survive on the south wall. Elia recorded a yellow dado, surmounted by a red band, with white plaster above. There is a breach in the north-west corner through to Unit no. 9, above a blocked doorway. At the centre of this front hall is a tufa impluvium (2.4 m × 2.1 m). In the north-west corner, 1 m above the pavement, were found: a small bronze ring; a bronze stud, similar to those in the entranceway and probably also from the front door; a fragment of a stone mortar or hand-mill; some glass beads; a small shell; and two bronze quadrantes, one of Nero dated ad 64. The fragmentary or loseable nature of these items suggests that they were disturbed from the ground level. Other small loseable items were found in the north-east corner: a small glass bottle, probably a toilet item; and possibly five more coins. One metre from the west side of the impluvium were found: another part of a hand-mill; two large stone weights; at least fifty-three lead weights, probably from a loom; and two other spherical stones, possibly also weights. The large number of lead weights is comparable with the quantity found under the stairway in room i of the Casa del Principe di Napoli. Another comparable group of forty loom weights was found together in a pit at Zugmantel. As Jongman noted, this amount would be equivalent to that required for one or perhaps two warp-weighted looms. It is therefore commensurate with the existence of such a loom, or looms, in this area, or of replacement loom weights, for domestic use.