Fasti article: Insula IX.3 di Marco Lucrezio

Just out on the Fasti Online:

Eeva-Maria Viitane, Insula IX.3 di Marco Lucrezio (2011)

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.