Part 2: The Stratigraphy : Trenches in the Area of the Forum, and IX D North : Forum V : Phase IIa: Republican modifications

Fig. 64: Forum V, second phase of the republican garden.

The nature of the agricultural exploitation of the garden area seems to have changed during the Republican phase, and at a certain point much of the original planting soil was cut away, leaving only a 1-2m. margin along the southwestern and southeastern walls of the garden (fig. 7 and fig. 64). The cut in the rest of the area (433) was filled in with a smooth brown soil (395) at a level slightly below that of 392. Whereas, in the original garden, planting pits were dug for individual plants, the second Republican garden seems to have been separated into a walking or tree-cultivation area along the walls and a uniformly tilled planting surface in the rest of the area. 395 only showed three intrusions, far fewer than 392. Of these, the largest was a circular pit that seemed to have been used as a midden: it was filled with a deposit of thick blackish soil and many sherds (cut 413, filled by 411). This cut was located in the southwestern angle of 395, along the edge of 392. The other two intrusions were small and filled with soil lighter and harder than that of the layer itself, suggesting that they represent structural rather than agricultural features (cuts 408 and 410, filled by 402 and 409, respectively). The cuts were roughly along the short axis of the garden and could have been made to support something such as plant poles.

Fig. 7: Axonometric reconstruction of the garden.

This part of the garden may have now been used to cultivate an annual kitchen garden, rather than perennial vegetation and small trees. An interpretation of the black, rich soil of 411 as kitchen refuse used as compost would tend to support this idea. In addition, the line along which 392 was cut away seems to follow almost exactly the edge of the area of shade cast by the southeast and southwest walls of the garden, and it is possible that the spatial reorganization of the garden reflected the cultivation of more sun-loving herbs and vegetables. At the same time, however, we must acknowledge that cut into which 395 was laid, by interrupting the original garden surface, makes it impossible to rule out earlier functional divisions in the garden.

By this time, the garden had taken the shape that it was to preserve for the rest of its use. At some point after the division of the garden into different planting or use areas, the holes along 237 were filled in with large rocks (cuts 387-391, filled with 382; although 398, the fill of 399 and 401, contains some later material, it probably also dates to this period). These rocks were probably meant to create a solid footing for a fountain that was then built into the west wall of the garden. This fountain consisted of a rectangular masonry projection built out from the west wall; within the projection was a deep, narrow basin. Above the basin a rounded niche, similar in shape to several fountains known from Pompeii, was cut back into the bedrock of the southwest wall (pl. 52). The long-term presence of moisture in the structure is clearly shown by the heavy calcium carbonate precipitates found in the drain of the basin (383). The source of the water that fed this fountain has not been determined, but it may have been supplied from the raised cistern of the bath complex. Perhaps around the same time²⁰, a new layer of dark brown planting soil (372) was laid down over 395 where 392 had been cut away (pl. 54). This planting soil was then cut by a rectangular trench about 0.5m. wide, filled with reddish earth (cut 375, filled by 374: pl. 53). This trench ran along the short axis of the garden, turning at a 90Ü angle to the NW about 1.5 meters from the southwest wall of the garden. Another cut (451, filled by 452), discovered beneath the northeast side of the aedicula and ending on the same line as the northeast end of 375, may represent the other end of a U-shaped feature²¹. The regular plan of this cut might suggest that it formed a planting trench for a hedge or some other type of linear plant arrangement, in which case its hard, compact, mortar-speckled fill (374) could represent Republican destruction material used to fill the cavity left by the removal of its roots during the initial Augustan reoccupation. Unlike 370 (below), however, it contained no dating material later than the 2nd c. B.C., and it is equally possible that the hard fill was the makeup for a decorative path running through an area now used for purposes other than food production. Together with the fountain, this feature may indicate a transition from functional to ornamental garden as early as a later Republican phase of the house²².

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20. The functional division of the garden has made it difficult for us to establish chronological relationships between its various features. The fountain has no stratigraphic relation with 372. 372 post-dates 395, while the fountain post-dates the deposit and agricultural use of 392, but the suggestion of a chronological link between the two features is based in large part on our ideas of the changing nature of the garden.

21. Since the area beneath the aedicula was left almost entirely unexcavated for reasons of conservation, we were not able to establish with any certainty that this cut formed part of 375. In addition, the stratigraphy of the area in which 451 was located was somewhat disturbed by the action of olive roots. Our reconstruction must therefore be viewed in light of these factors.

22. Such a transition would be in keeping with the general trends in contemporary Cosan domestic architecture: the garden of the House of the Skeleton, constructed in the early 1st c. B.C., shows a similar ornamental arrangement, with paths, possibly lined with hedges, passing through an area planted with a few larger trees and bushes (Cosa IV, 148-151).