The upper image is area 2, near the north gate; the lower image pans to the east, showing a portion of area 3 to the right.

Key characteristics

The shape of area 2 does not match the common scooping pattern seen in most other locations. The line of failure is much more vertical at the ends and horizontal in the middle portion compared to other repair areas in the Macellum and other Forum buildings, the figure below shows a general diagram of the difference.

The east end of the repair area (W10.28) is visible from both the interior and exterior, although is much clearer from the interior. The west end of the repair is visible only from the exterior at W13.28, since the exterior portion of W28.13 is completely covered with ancient plaster, clearly indicating that the repair is ancient.

It is important to note that the repair line at W13.28 appears to show a buttressing effect from the shop wall W13.14 rather than the extending all the way to the end of the wall, being buttressed by the corner wall W30.14-30.28. A possible explanation for this is that W13.14 acted as an effective buttress because, unlike all the other shop walls in area 2, W13.14 has no pipe at the juncture with the main wall. At ~25 cm thick, W13.14 is thinner than the other walls and does not have room to accommodate a 22 cm pipe. The fact that the wall has no pipe makes it credible as a buttress, although the fact that it is very thin makes it somewhat less credible. The limestone column that the wall engages a approximately 2 meters from the juncture with the main wall would also reduce its effectiveness as a buttress.

Selected Photographs

Space 13. Note W13.14 on the left, and the repair seam which enters on the horizontal at the right and cuts vertically near W13.14. W13.14 has no pipe at its juncture since it is thinner than most the other shop walls, ~25 cm rather than ~37 cm.

The material at the top of the main wall appears to be a modern topping off of the wall, where the height changes, however the semi-bond scar for W13.14 extends into this material, implying that W13.14 once extended into that portion of the main wall, implying that it is not modern.

Space 11, with 12 in back. The horizontal seam between black lava below and repair above is visible in W12.28. Note that the ground plane is lower than that of the interior.

Space 9, with 10 in back. The repair seam is much less apparent than it is on the interior, and seems to be more rectilinear than scooped. There are clear horizontal seams between black lava on the bottom, incertum in the middle, and rubble on the top. Note the small patch of opus reticulatum to the right, roughly corresponding to the reticulatum visible on W28.10.

Pipes

As noted, although shop wall W13.14 does not include a pipe at its juncture with the main wall, but the other shop walls, W10.12 and W12.13 do show evidence of such pipes. The evidence is the voids left by pipes, rather than the pipes themselves.

Pipe void at W12.13.

Detail at top of pipe void at W12.13. Note the smooth, round impression of the pipe left in the cement.

Pipe void at W10.12.