Kristina Sycamore and Dr. Roger Macfarlane, Classics

Centuries of excavation around the south slope of Vesuvius has proven the volcanic eruption of 79 AD to be a boon to Roman archaeology and history. As multiple sites have been uncovered, archaeologists have viewed a snapshot in time. As a result, a great deal has been learned about the city of Pompeii and the surrounding area. It has become an essential resource and textbook example which Roman studies can scarcely avoid. However, for as much as this area surrounding Vesuvius has been uncovered, documented, and researched, the North Slope of the volcano has been largely ignored. Current excavations are now seeking to fill this gap in the knowledge base.

The Parco Europa site in the town of Pollena Trocchia is a structure of Roman construction. Although I originally thought it to be a villa, this is uncertain. It initially underwent excavation in the 1980’s, but it was incomplete and, as further excavation has shown, largely inaccurate. In the spring of 2007 I participated in an excavation at this site, in which we have been seeking to shed further light on the design, shape, function, and date of the building. Some of the most valuable resources for archaeologists come from stratigraphy and cultural material recovered in context, information which comes through excavation. However, a great deal can be learned from the permanent features as well. In addition to my work at the excavation, I studied the building materials of the site, more specifically the walls, to contribute a preliminary chronology which further excavation can support and refine. Using the distinctive architectural elements from the site, and considering both the history of the materials and comparisons with surrounding structures, I concluded that the walls most likely belong to the second century AD.

The walls at Parco Europa are constructed using the traditional Roman method of a concrete core with a facing. Roman concrete consisted of a rubble aggregate in mortar; this combination was called caementicium and formed the shape, structure, and core of Roman construction. Despite the central role of concrete, walls are mostly defined and categorized by the facing since it is the most readily distinguishable characteristic, and the most indicative of chronology. At our site, the walls are faced primarily with triangular red brick. Since the standardization of brick and the regular use of triangles came about in the first century AD, this site can certainly be no earlier than that. Triangles were acquired by breaking bricks originally fired as squares. Often, the bricks would be used unbroken. From their measurements, based upon the Roman foot, we can determine their type. The largest type of brick, called bipedales, had sides equal to two Roman feet, or 59.2 cm. These are particularly useful in dating, since they came into use around the time of the emperor Domitian in the late first century AD. Since our site shows the use of bipedales in several locations, the earliest possible date can be further limited to late in the first century.

In addition to these determinations gained through published sources, I visited three other sites in search of parallels to our own: Pompeii, Pozzuoli, and Ostia.

From a perspective of local materials, Pompeii serves as a valid comparison since the two sites are just on opposite sides of Vesuvius. However, any attempt to measure against Pompeii is obviously limited by the city’s abrupt termination in 79 AD. Despite this, the earthquake of 62 AD destroyed and damaged much of the city, forcing a rebuilding effort which enables us to catch an image of building materials and preferences in the mid first century. It is clear from the rebuilt portions of the city that brick was coming into use. However, at Pompeii the use of brick is very irregular in shape, texture, and composition. Triangular bricks, like those seen at Parco Europa, appear only occasionally at Pompeii; the rest being broken roof tiles. Our site was certainly built later. This is further confirmation to the late first century AD limit suggested by the bipedales.

The Pozzuoli amphitheater is also relatively close to our site which serves as a valuable comparison. Most of the lower level is constructed in brick dating to the late first century AD, but there are still slight differences between it and our site. More interesting is a second century AD renovation to the south of the stage, in which the vaulting looks exactly like that at our site, hinting at a date beyond the first century.

Ostia, an entire city which has been very well preserved, is much further away but is extremely valuable since it used brick over a course of several centuries. One particular block of the city along the Via di Diana was almost entirely constructed in the second century AD, and it is here that I see the greatest similarities to our site. Triangular bricks are the primary building material, bipedales are used in the same ways we see at Parco Europa, and several relieving arches in this area look very similar to the one at our site, in both size and the use of brick. The similarities strongly suggest a second century AD date to the Parco Europa walls.

Numerous features of the site confirm that the site could be no earlier than the first century AD; the triangular bricks are the most obvious and prevalent of these. The use of bipedales further refines this limit to the reign of Domitian, late in the first century. Comparisons with sites from surrounding areas further confirm this chronology, and suggest an even more specific one. Pompeii, less sophisticated and more irregular than our site, is certainly earlier. Thus limited at its earliest to the late first century, both the Pozzuoli amphitheater and Ostia suggest a date beyond this. The greatest similarities from both these sites date to the second century and, considering the evidence as a whole, this is the most supported conclusion.

This rough chronology gained from the building materials of the site represents a preliminary avenue of research to be corroborated with stratigraphic and cultural evidence from the excavation itself. These multiple forms of evidence, from this season as well as years to come, will further clarify and refine not only the dating, but the history and activity of the North Slope as well.