Villa A

Between 2006 and 2010 the Oplontis Project, in collaboration with the Kent Archaeological Field School, excavated a series of 24 trenches with the aim to supplement and enrich the architectural, art historical and archival investigations of Villa A. The primary goal was to reconstruct the development of the buildings over time and identify any possible lost structures that were demolished in antiquity or remained unrecorded since the first excavation of the Villa. The valuable mosaic pavements present in the villa limited the investigations to the garden areas where excavations would not damage the existing structures.  On occasion, existing holes created in the pavements in antiquity allowed for small investigations below mosaic floors.

Initial results of these investigations indicate that the Villa experienced at least three main phases of development. The first phase corresponds with the construction of the old core centered on the axis of atrium 5 and propylon 21 built in the years around 60 BC. This structure included the adjacent wings spanning oecus 15 to the west and the so-called slave peristyle 32 to the east. The entrance to the north with its garden and approach avenues as well as the monumental propylon were a prominent feature of this early structure. It is likely that portico 62 to the east was also part of this first core.

In a second phase, dating to the Augustan period (ca. 15 BC- AD 15), the owner of the Villa commissioned a series of waterworks fed by an aqueduct discovered in trench OPK 3 that arrived at the northwestern tip of the excavated north garden. The channel veered to the northeast undoubtedly to feed a large water feature that remains buried beneath the volcanic debris. Elsewhere the new water connection allowed for the creation of a large bath space spanning rooms 8, 17 and 18 on the northwestern side of the old core as well as a latrine area and a small bath to the east in spaces 48-51. In viridarium 20 our excavations discovered the basin of a large fountain in trench OPK 2. Although it belonged to the Villa’s second phase, it went out of use in antiquity; workers buried it as they remodeled the garden in the years before the eruption.

In a following third phase the owners of the Villa expanded the building with the construction of the eastern wing and its associated pool as well as the construction of the rooms and spaces to the south. This dramatic expansion led to the demolition of the earlier eastern portico of the north garden.  Our results indicate that these events occurred no earlier than the AD 45 because the builders used old demolished architectural debris to level out the area south of the pool. The debris included large fragments of Fourth Style fresco that became popular in the mid first century AD. In trench OP 3 the excavations uncovered a piece of a third style fresco that was removed from oecus 8 during this remodeling and dumped as part of construction and leveling debris outside of diaeta 78.

Within the sequence of construction in third phase the pool seems to go in first. It was likely never completed in the form that builders had envisioned it. The results from trench OPK 1 indicate that the pool was once meant to be wider. Engineers chose to narrow it during construction by building a new wall a few meters to the east. Whether this narrowing was the result of a design error, a structural failure, or simply a desire to expand the colonnade on the eastern wing remains uncertain. The construction of the pool likely diverted the water from the baths and viridarium 20 leading to their remodeling and to workers covering the water features that were now in disuse.

The subsequent earthquake of AD 62 damaged the Villa extensively. By the time of the eruption large parts of the structure were either under repair or were being sold off. The floors in diaeta 78 and portico 86 were largely removed and sold off. Other architectural elements such as the solid columns in propylon 5 were awaiting a new owner. Similarly pavilion 99 went out of use. The seismic event cut also off the water supply dealing a devastating blow to the building from which it never fully recovered from.

Together with the excavations the Oplontis Project conducted a series of geophysical investigations to the south of the Sarno Canal adjacent to the site in an area known as the ex-Mulino. The site derived its name from the Foglia Miglio mill that had once stood there. The Soprintendenza Archeologica di Pompeii acquired the building and demolished it with the aim to conduct further investigations. By means of Electro Resistivity Tomography—a process that measures return pulses on electrical charges shot into the ground– the project determined the presence of likely archaeological remains belonging to the Villa buried beneath the surface. The project subsequently carried out a series of six mechanical cores in the ex-Mulino and adjacent locations to determine the ancient coastline. The results indicated that the Villa once stood on a 13 meter-cliff overlooking the sea below. Recent excavations conducted by the Italian authorities have confirmed these results and have identified a series of three terraces lining the ancient cliff to reach the sea below. In addition, the most recent excavations on the southern side indicate that at least part of the terracing system to the south of the Sarno canal was already in place with this early building.

Villa B

In the summer of 2012, the Oplontis Project began to investigate the site of Oplontis Villa B located some 300 meters east of Villa A. Italian authorities excavated the complex in various campaigns between 1974 and 1991 with the aim to create a wider archaeological park connected to Villa A. The excavation work centered around a large two-story colonnaded courtyard upon surrounded with storage rooms on the lower ground floor. At the time of the eruption many rooms and covered portico housed up to 1400 amphorae waiting to be cleaned and reused for wine transport. To the north of the courtyard excavators recovered a roman street whereas further barrel-vaulted storage spaces opened to the south. Although Italian authorities rebuilt much of the mixed residential and commercial complex it remained little studied and published.

The aim of the investigations that the Oplontis Project at Oplontis B is to clean up the site as well as record its floors and rebuilt structures for study. In addition, subsurface excavations are meant to understand more of the development of the complex over time. So far, the project has excavated up to 44 trenches and much of the material is still under study. Nevertheless, initial results indicate at least five phases of development stretching between the mid-fist century BC up to the eruption of AD 79.

The earliest phase of occupation at Oplontis B dates to no earlier than the second quarter of the first century BCE. It finds a place in a series of foundation walls recovered on the southern side of the site in spaces 28 and 49. Workers carefully razed these structures in antiquity as they transformed the site in later phases.  Although the exact function of these foundations remains unknown it seems that the one located in space 28 functioned as a terracing structure whereas the one uncovered in space 49 had some sort of artisanal association.

Our excavations have identified further foundations associated with the following phase two in spaces 28, 49, 38, and 39. Initial results date these foundations to the middle of the first century BC. The foundations are composed of a rough concrete and their layout has little to do with the later courtyard building. Workers also carefully razed these structures in antiquity, making any further identification of their function difficult. The recovery of a small pottery kiln in space 39 associated with this phase suggests that the site retained some sort of artisanal production in this phase.

In phase three, dating to the second half of the first century BC, the courtyard building starts to take shape.  Another series of structures emerge on the southern side of the site associated with two long walls in space 44 and as well as a shallow basin. Further foundation structures associated with this phase emerged in space 49. The specific function of these spaces is once again debatable. However, the heavy presence of lime within the basin suggests that lime slaking activities occurred which can be associated with construction and/or agricultural activities.

Phase four dates to the Augustan period when workers built a new aqueduct feeding the complex from the north and draining into the sea to the south. It seems that the principal storage areas around the courtyard, the two-story colonnade are also well established by this time. With the water supply established it seems plausible to assume that the wine packaging activities began in this period. Further construction at Oplontis B included the series of row houses lining the ancient street to the north.    

In phase five, dating to no earlier than period after the emperor Claudius, it seems that the western wing of the complex, comprising of spaces 18, 38, 39, 21 and 22, was shut off from the main courtyard with the closure of access doors. The construction of the barrel-vaulted spaces on the south side of the site closely followed, suggesting a phase 6. The proximity of these events may be part of a single construction/renovation attempt. The construction of the barrel-vaulted spaces is almost certainly associated with the post-earthquake period of reconstruction after AD 62. Their construction transformed the site adding further storage capacity on the lower floor and new living quarters on the upper floors.  In addition, their foundations cut through the existing system of water supply and drainage, suggesting a drastic change in the daily operations at Oplontis B perhaps to focus on the wine packaging activities occurring at the time of the eruption.

The investigations at Oplontis B began with a series of survey campaigns designed to understand the area as much as possible before starting with our excavation activity. An Electro Resistivity Tomography survey on the eastern side of the site suggested that the ancient seashore was just a few meters south from the edge of the excavated building. A geoprospection survey carried out with mechanical coring confirmed this scenario and detected a major buried road running N-S on the eastern side of the site. It once served to connect the seashore and the structures at Oplontis B with the countryside in antiquity. The geoprospection survey also suggested that the area of Oplontis B was subject to Bradyseism—the process where terrain increases or decreases in elevation induced by volcanic activity—in antiquity. Its activity may explain the rapid development of the site in its six phases as inhabitants responded to the changing terrain elevation.

Further georadar work detected an anomaly at the center of the courtyard that seemed to indicate the presence of a large underground cistern. The excavation of trench OPB 1 in 2012 had as aim to examine this anomaly. Rather than a cistern, the anomaly turned out to be a series of volcanic deposits covering earlier paleosols dating back to 900 BC.

With investigations ongoing, these phases identified at both Villa A and Oplontis B will be refined further in the coming seasons. However, it is evident that Oplontis B featured a much more dynamic development than Villa A with many more architectural phases. Similarly, Oplontis B was fully functioning at the time of the eruption, whereas Villa A was abandoned. These findings stand in stark contrast to each other and most likely have to do with the different functions and ownership of the structures collectively recovered at Oplontis.