KITCHENS AND DINING ROOMS AT POMPEII ... - Get a Free Blog

kiln was built half into the ground in the SE corner, and a small storage alcove on the SW
contained charcoal/carbonized wood, possibly fuel for the kiln (Fig. 5.52). 36
Strocka has shown that fine 4th style redecoration in much of the N part of the house was
interrupted by the A.D. 62 earthquake, and that only coarse plastering was thereafter carried out,
and was still in progress in A.D. 79. Allison argues further that all re-plastering of the house had
essentially been abandoned some time before the eruption, and that the house was in a state of
reduced habitation. However: the unfinished nature of the walls in many rooms of the house,
the presence of raw gypsum stored in piles, its association with working tools in (s), the kiln, and
remains of ready fuel all support the standard opinion that the house was still in the process of
renovation in A.D. 79. As Strocka has pointed out, the fact that the renovation was not uniformly
carried out is irrelevant. The disruption of renovations did not mean, furthermore, that the house
was 'downgraded' or less habitable. Inconvenience is a natural companion to remodeling a
home. One would expect to see evidence for renovating a room side by side with evidence for its
continued use, albeit in altered capacity. Change, not stasis, is the normal state of affairs in
domestic life. 37
References
Jashemski 1993, 35; Allison 1992b, 318-331; PPM I, 193-195, 280-329; Clarke 1991, 58-59; De
Albentiis 1990, 196-198; Gury 1986; Laidlaw 1985, 59-60; Strocka 1984; PPP I, 26-32; CTP IIIA, 10-
11; Guida Laterza 1982, 104-106; Guida 1976, 197-199; Schefold 1957, 17-24; Della Corte 1954, 240-
242, #583-584; Spinazzola I, 435-593, II, 865-901; Maiuri 1942a, 147-150, 182; Boyce 1937, 25, #37;
Maiuri NSc 1933, 252-276; Beccarini 1922, 16-18; Della Corte NSc 1913, 28-34, 83, 356-360; Della
Corte NSc 1912, 182, 354, 401-406, 445-449.
Data
A) Total area: 432.4 Nodes: 141.4 Connectors: 27.4 Static spaces: 267.5
B) Total # spaces: 21 # Nodes: 2 # Connectors: 4 # Static spaces: 15
C) Area, KI (n): 11.7 Area, DR (c): 28.3 Length, DR (c): 7.08 Width, DR (c): 4.00
Area, DI◊(i): 14.6 Length, DI◊(i): 3.64 Width, DI◊(i): 4.02
Area, DH•(p): 39.9 Length, DH•(p): 8.49 Width, DH•(p): 4.70
D) Entry prox., KI (n): 1.8 Entry prox., DR (c): 7.2 Prox, KI (n)-DR (c): 16.9
Entry prox., DI◊(i): 12.2 Prox, KI (n)-DI◊(i): 10.4
Entry prox., DH•(p): 29.4 Prox, KI (n)-DH•(p): 8.7
36 Carbonized remains in the storage alcove SW of (s): Della Corte NSc 1913, 357.
37 Berry 1993, 73: "There is no doubt that this [A.D. 62] earthquake accelerated change within the town, but
change in this instance should not be seen as something abnormal or as a sign of social decline: instead it is
something healthy which is warding off economic and social stagnation."
213