Herculaneum VII.4. Shop. Excavated 1873-74.
VII.2, on left, VII.3, in centre, VII.4, on right, Herculaneum. October 2014. Entrance doorways. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
VII.6 Herculaneum, on right, then VII.5, VII.4, VII.3, VII.2, VII.1 and then crossroads with Decumanus Inferiore.
VI.2/3 on left, Herculaneum. May 2010. Looking south along Cardo III Superiore.
Waldstein and Shoobridge wrote
“Before leaving the town proper, we must say something of the small portion excavated in the nineteenth century, and still exposed, often called the “Scavi Nuovi”.
This part of the city sloped steeply to the south-west and ended in a sharp cliff; and strong and elaborate subterranean rooms were needed to keep the last houses level. Two streets were laid bare, crossing one another at right angles. That running down to the sea has a fine vaulted drain, 0.60m broad and 1.05m high, fed by various small drains and gutters. At the edge of the cliff it empties into a well-shaped opening of unknown depth, but certainly more than three metres.”
See Waldstein, C. & Shoobridge, L. (1908). Herculaneum, past, present
and future. London, Macmillan
& Co. Ltd., (p.76-77).
See Ruggiero, M. 1885. Storia degli Scavi di Ercolano ricomposta su’ documenti superstiti. Napoli. (pp. xlvi-li), for the whole description of “Scavi Nuovi”.
“The whole of sea street was strewn with fragments of bronze statues, human and equine, of various scales and there was also found a small silver bust of Galba, in tiny fragments, now carefully put together and in the Museo Nazionale”. (inventory number 110127, and see p.659 in Ruggiero, Scavi, etc., (record of 11 September 1874).
This portion of the site had been considerably tunnelled by the eighteenth-century excavators, and many of the larger works of art had been removed.
However, a marble bust, several pictures and a number of bronze statuettes were unearthed, and an almost bewildering number of domestic antiquities of the highest interest. These included not only fine bronze and clay vessels but a great variety of wooden objects: for example, a wooden chest of drawers, with bronze fittings, unfortunately empty. (See Ruggiero, Storia degli Scavi…. p.588, May 14 1869). There were also found a quantity of nets, ropes, cords, eatables, etc.
See Waldstein, C. & Shoobridge, L. (1908). Herculaneum, past, present
and future. London, Macmillan
& Co. Ltd., (p.77-78).
See Pagano, M. and Prisciandaro, R., 2006. Studio sulle provenienze degli oggetti rinvenuti negli scavi borbonici del regno di Napoli. Naples: Nicola Longobardi. (p.227-231 for various objects found in this area and found at differing heights during the excavation of the roadway).
VII.2, VII.3 and VII.4, Herculaneum. September 2015. Looking west to entrance doorways. Photo courtesy of Michael Binns.
According to Maiuri outside this shop stood two pilasters that flanked the entrance of the shop, a support for the rooms on the upper floor.
VII.4 Herculaneum. September 2019.
Looking towards
north end from entrance doorway, with steps to upper floor in north-west
corner. Photo courtesy of Klaus Heese.
VII.4
Herculaneum. March 2014. Looking towards north end of shop from entrance
doorway.
Foto
Annette Haug, ERC Grant 681269 DÉCOR.
VII.4, Herculaneum, June 2008.
Looking north towards north-east corner. Photo courtesy of Nicolas Monteix.
VII.4, Herculaneum, June
2008. Looking east towards north-east corner. Photo courtesy of Nicolas
Monteix.
According to Monteix – “Maiuri mentions two large cylindrical furnace/hearths for large boilers which have disappeared.
This description as well as the mention of a laundry in the “Vecchi Scavi” could imply the existence of a fleece/wool laundry in this space.”
See Monteix, N.
2010. Les lieux de métier. Boutiques et
ateliers d’Herculanum. (p.407-8).