Post-Season Report: CRC Pompeii Project, 2023 Field Season

Thanks in large part to the generous support of the International Catacomb Society, the Casa della Regina Carolina (CRC) Project at Pompeii held a highly productive field season in 2023.

Figure 1. Photogrammetric model from drone photography, looking north at VIII 3.15 (left) and VIII 3.14 (right). Other adjacent houses in the insula are shown in grayscale. (Image: Fawzi Doumaz)

INTRODUCTION

The Casa della Regina Carolina (CRC) Project at Pompeii documents a large house, the so-called “Casa della Regina Carolina” (VIII 3.14-15) (Figure 1), and excavates its garden in order to explore the ways that Roman domestic gardens shaped the everyday experiences of the people who lived and worked within them. The project is co-directed by Caitie Barrett (Cornell University), Kathryn Gleason (Cornell University), and Annalisa Marzano (University of Bologna), with assistant directors Lee Graña (University of Bologna) and Kaja Tally-Schumacher (Harvard University). Located near the Forum of Pompeii (Figure 2), the CRC is a large, elite house which contains one of the largest domestic gardens in the city. Our multidisciplinary research at this site is enabling us to reconstruct human-plant interactions in ancient Pompeii and to shed light on Roman gardens not only as spaces of elite socializing, but also labor and non-elite experience.

FIELDWORK IN 2023

Following the success of three field seasons (2018, 2019, 2022), we conducted a fourth excavation season in June–July 2024 with the support of the ICS. An international team of approximately 40 staff, specialists, and students took part in six weeks of excavation and documentation. Excavation in 2023 focused primarily on the stratigraphy associated with the garden destroyed in 79 CE. To this end, we opened ten trenches (Figure 3, trenches A, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, and X).

[INSERT FIGURE 3] [coming soon]

Figure 3. Plan of VIII 3.14 and VIII 3.15 (adapted from an insula plan created by the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, with additions and modifications by Yaniv Korman).

Although the standing architecture of the house was first exposed in the early 19^th century (see Barrett et al. 2020), our project is the first stratigraphic excavation to take place within the CRC. In 2018, we began with a feasibility study that involved the use of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to locate buried remains, the documentation of standing architecture and topography with total station survey, photogrammetry, and LiDAR scanning, and the excavation of several initial test units that established the basic stratigraphy of the site. Subsequently, we held more extensive field seasons in 2019, 2022, and 2023. Findings from our excavations include the remains of at least 32 ancient plantings (the remains of planting pots, root cavities, and planting pits), pathways, architectural remains, and wall paintings (Figure 4) (Barrett et al. 2020, 2023, and in press).

[INSERT FIGURE 4] [coming soon]

Figure 4. Plan of VIII 3.14, showing the locations of excavated plant remains and associated features within the 79 CE garden. Features include the locations of root cavities (in situ); excavated planting pots (in situ); sherds from additional planting pots; yellow soil deposits, which frequently appear in association with root cavities or planting pots; and surfaces of compacted soil which appear to represent the remains of paths. (Plan: Yaniv Korman)

Excavations in 2022 and more recently in 2023 focused primarily on the stratigraphy associated with the garden destroyed in 79 CE (Figure 5). We are approaching completion of excavation in open areas that will not endanger the mature trees. Future excavations will continue in the same areas and progress down to earlier levels. Our new results are generally consistent with the phasing we published from our previous excavation seasons (Barrett et al. 2020, 2023). Briefly, this chronology involves two initial phases in the 2^nd–1^st centuries BCE in which the current site of VIII 3.14 comprised at least two separate and smaller dwellings. These were unified into one property in the first century CE, probably prior to the 62 CE earthquake. Subsequently, we see evidence for recovery and reconstruction after the earthquake, involving the installation of the garden as it currently exists today.

Within the late first century CE garden, we have been able to identify at least 32 plant locations, as indicated by root cavities,^[1] planting pits, and planting pots (Figure 6). Perforated planting pots, or ollae perforatae, are widely attested in gardens throughout the Roman world and were used for propagating plants by seed, cuttings, and aerial layering. They could also be used to constrain root growth to produce miniaturized shrubs and trees, whose bonsai-like appearance was maintained by hard pruning (Barrett et al. 2020, 2024). We have also been able to identify earthen paths within the garden. We have found remains of a north-south path connecting Room 3 to the central shrine, and an east-west path along the northern wall (see above, Figure 5).

[INSERT FIGURE 6] [coming soon]

Figure 6. Planting pot (olla perforata, inv. no. 309.0001) in situ, adjacent to a post hole filled with lapilli. The pot is situated within a deposit of compact yellowish soil within a planting pit. Excavated in Trench V, 2023. (Photo: Caitie Barrett)

We are employing multiple avenues of analysis to identify the plants that grew in the garden. Determining specific species is challenging. Flotation of the soil has produced relatively few plant macroremains, and those that are present may derive from fertilizer, rather than plants that grew in the garden. However, we do have preserved ancient pollen. Our palynologist, Dafna Langgut, has developed a new technique for extracting pollen not only from soil but also ancient wall plaster. Her study is ongoing, but some preliminary findings of plants that likely grew within the garden itself include – among others – olive, walnut, and grape (Barrett et al., in press). We are also investigating the garden soil for biomarkers of ancient vegetation, using gas chromatography mass spectrometry and shotgun DNA analysis (Barrett et al., in press). These studies are ongoing, but should ultimately help us compare multiple lines of evidence to understand the ancient garden.

Fieldwork in 2023 also included architectural survey via Total Station, aerial drone photography, and photogrammetric modeling of standing architecture. This survey is enabling us to redraw the boundaries of the “Casa della Regina Carolina,” which we have found was connected in antiquity to the adjacent building VIII 3.15 (Barrett et al., in press). Another conclusion from our architectural survey of the house concerns Room 3 (see above, Figure 3), which has usually been identified as an atrium. The space was originally a “Corinthian” atrium (that is, one with more than four columns), but by 79 CE, the owners of the house had renovated this space in ways that changed its form and likely also its function. Low walls now blocked the intercolumnar spaces between the pillars, allowing access only from the garden. This blocking of intercolumnar spaces is attested in many houses of Pompeii and often seems to have been practiced during the city’s later years to create a contained semi-outdoor dining space. Dining rooms opening onto gardens were ubiquitous in the city. This modification meant that the only way to get in or out of Room 3 was now through the garden. Additionally, the space was painted with vegetal motifs and provided with water features, including a fountain (Barrett et al., in press). The remodeling of the atrium suggests that the inhabitants chose to adapt this space for outdoor conviviality, allowing diners to take in the sights, sounds, and smells of the garden, and to gaze upon the central shrine within the garden, which was connected axially to Room 3 via an earthen path and direct visual access (Figure 7).

^[1] We have been able to create casts of eight of the root cavities, but in most cases the soil has proven to be too dry to maintain stable cavity walls for casting once the lapilli are removed.

DISCUSSION

All of this evidence for design, construction, and cultivation helps us reconceptualize Roman gardens not just as spaces of elite socializing, but also labor and non-elite experience. In this house, the garden was central to the owners’ display strategies: it occupies half of the ground plan and forms a visual focus for most of the rest of the house. Ancient visitors would have perceived not only the sensory appeal of the planted space, but also its testimony to the owner’s control of multiple resources that included the labor and skill of human beings. The social value of the garden came not only from conspicuous consumption, but also conspicuous exploitation.

At the same time, we can also understand this garden as evidence for the practices, knowledge, and lived experiences of the workers who created it (Figure 8). The physical labor of gardening would itself have shaped these individuals’ bodies, as repeated tasks would have produced characteristic effects on people’s muscles and skeletal systems. What is more, many of the activities that went into producing this garden would have required specialized skill. The initial design and construction of the garden would have required top-down coordination and extensive advance planning to budget the project, organize workers, and order the fills, materials, and plants. The ongoing care of the garden required other forms of skill. Trees and vines, both of which are evident in our pollen record, might be maintained by individual specialists such as an arborator or vinitor. Other evidence for specialized expertise comes from the use of planting pots – at least one of which contained root cavities indicative of air layering and dwarfing – and for soil enrichment strategies (for which see Barrett et al., in press). All of these activities testify to ancient gardeners’ embodied knowledge of many different organic and inorganic materials: the plants themselves, the soils in which they grew, and the tools that people could use to intervene in their growth. The garden itself thus constitutes material evidence for the work, expertise, and experience of individuals whose first-person perspectives are not well represented in textual sources.

[INSERT FIGURE 8] [coming soon]

Figure 8. Sketch depicting the perspective of an ancient viewer standing in the center of the garden, gazing toward the southeast corner of the planted space (e.g., toward the corner with Room 6) and observing gardeners at work. The vegetation in the drawing has been reconstructed on the basis of palynological evidence from the site (publication forthcoming by Dafna Langgut). (Drawing: Yaniv Korman)

FUTURE PLANS

We intend to return to the field in summer 2025 to further explore the relationship between house VIII 3.14 and VIII 3.15, as well as to investigate the earlier phases of activity at this site before the construction of the Roman-period garden. With the support of ICS as well as the National Endowment for the Humanities, we are currently building a virtual 3D model of the house and garden. We intend to use that model for creative reconstruction, not only of the space itself, but also the experiences of people who lived and worked within it. We are also preparing an edited volume publishing our findings on the house and garden as they existed in 79 CE. This volume will present our synthetic interpretations of the site, exploring the range of activities, sensations, and experiences that this ancient house and garden afforded to the people who lived and worked within them. We are immensely grateful to ICS for the generous support that has helped to make this work possible.

PROJECT PUBLICATIONS

(***starred entries include results from 2023)

***In press      Barrett, C., K.L. Gleason, L. Graña, A. Marzano, and K. Tally-Schumacher, with additional contributions by E. Allen, S. Barker, M. Bartolini, H. Becker, J. Bellviure, J. Feito, R. Ferritto, D. Langgut, E. Lime, P. Mighetto, M. Robinson, J. Sevink, K. Tardio, C. Ward, and C. Warlick. In press (accepted for publication). “The Casa della Regina Carolina (CRC) Project, Pompeii: 2022–2023 Field Seasons.” FOLD&R (Fasti OnLine Documents & Research) Italy.

Forthcoming    Barrett, C. Accepted and forthcoming. “Domestic Cult (Graeco-Roman).” In Routledge Handbook of the Archaeology of Classical Houses and Households, eds. B.A. Ault and A. Sebastiani. Oxfordshire: Routledge.

2023                Barrett, C., K.L. Gleason, L. Graña, and A. Marzano, with additional contributions by E. Allen, R. Ferritto, D. Langgut, E. Lime, L. Magno, M. Robinson, and K. Tally-Schumacher. 2023. “Leisure and Labor in a Pompeian Garden: The Casa Della Regina Carolina Project (VIII 3, 14), 2022 Field Season.” Rivista di Studi Pompeiani 34: 257–265.

2020                Barrett, C.E., K.L. Gleason, and A. Marzano, with additional contributions on palynology by D. Langgut. 2020. “The Casa della Regina Carolina (CRC) Project, Pompeii: Preliminary Report on 2018 and 2019 Field Seasons.” FOLD&R (Fasti OnLine Documents & Research) Italy. https://www.fastionline.org/docs/FOLDER-it-2020-492.pdf.

2022                Langgut, D. 2022. “Prestigious Early Roman Gardens across the Empire: The Significance of Gardens and Horticultural Trends Evidenced by Pollen.” Palynology 46.4: 1–17.

2020                Marzano, A. 2020. “The ‘Secrets’ of a Roman Garden.” Epistula 19: 10.

2020                Marzano, A. 2020. “A Roman Flowerpot.” Epistula 19: 11-12.

PROJECT WEBSITE

https://blogs.cornell.edu/crcpompeii/

ACADEMIC PRESENTATIONS ON THE CRC PROJECT

(***starred entries include results from 2023)

***Upcoming “Gardens, Plants, and Social Status: The Multisensory Experience of Outdoor Dining at Pompeii.” C. Barrett, K. Gleason, A. Marzano, L. Graña, and K. Tally-Schumacher. Archaeological Institute of America, Annual Meeting. Accepted for presentation. Philadelphia, Jan. 2025.

***Upcoming “A New Cameo from a Domestic Garden at Pompeii.” E. Lime. To be delivered at the Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, Philadelphia, PA, USA. January 2–5, 2025.

***2024          “Contradictory (In)Visibiilty in the Age of the Roman Climate Optimum: Horticultural Labor in Text, Image, and Soil.” Co-authored with K. Tally-Schumacher, C. Barrett, K. Gleason, L. Graña, and A. Marzano. International symposium, “Labor invisus: The World of Work,” Symposium Vesuvianum 2024. Villa Vergiliana, Cuma, Italy. Oct. 2024.

***2024          “Leisure and Labor in a Pompeian Garden: The Casa della Regina Carolina Project, Pompeii, 2022–2023 Field Seasons.” C.Barrett, K. Gleason, A. Marzano, L. Graña, and K. Tally-Schumacher. Archaeological Institute of America, Annual Meeting. Chicago, Jan. 2024.

***2024          “Leisure and Labor in a Pompeian Garden: The Casa della Regina Carolina Project, Pompeii, 2022–2023 Field Seasons.” C. Barrett, K. Gleason, A. Marzano, L. Graña, and K. Tally-Schumacher. Department of Classics, Cornell University, Ithaca, Feb. 2024.

***2024          “Gardens, Plants, and Social Status: Use, Performance, and Reception of the Garden of the ‘Casa della Regina Carolina’ (Pompeii).” A. Marzano. Delivered at the Oxford Ancient Architecture Discussion Group, May 10, 2024.

2024                “Casa della Regina Carolina in Pompeii: Ceramics from the New Excavations (Seasons 2018–2019).” E. Castaldo. Poster presented at the 2024 Congress of the Rei Cretariae Romanae Fautores, 15–22 September, 2024.

***2023          “The Casa della Regina Carolina Project: Excavating a Pompeian Garden, 2019–2023.” C. Barrett, K. Gleason, and A. Marzano. Symposium for current research at Pompeii, “Workshop Ricercatori a Pompei.” Pompeii, Italy. July 2023.

2022                “A Garden’s Secrets: Planting, Performance, and Reception of the Garden of the ‘Casa della Regina Carolina,’ Pompeii.” C. Barrett, K. Gleason, and A. Marzano. Roman Archaeology Conference (RAC), Split, Croatia. Apr. 2022.

2021                “In Search of Roman Arboriculture: Ideology, Display, and Economy.” A. Marzano. Molly Cotton Memorial Lecture, The British School at Rome, Dec. 15, 2021.

2021                “Urban Gardens and Resiliency in Post-Earthquake Pompeii, 62–79 CE.” Gleason, K., J. Venner, M. Palmer, C. Barrett, A. Marzano, and K. Tally-Schumacher. Paper delivered at the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture Annual Meeting (online). March 17–20, 2021.

2021                “Environmentalism, Climate Change, and Methods Towards a Sustainable Archaeology.” K. Tally-Schumacher. Paper delivered at the Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America (virtual meeting). Jan. 8, 2021.

2020                “Planting and Performance in the Roman Garden: Results of the Casa della Regina Carolina Project, 2018–2019.” C. Barrett, K. Gleason, A. Marzano, and K. Tally-Schumacher. Archaeological Institute of America, Annual Meeting. Washington, DC, Jan. 2020.

2018                “Grafting Glory: The Ideology and Economy of Roman Arboriculture.” A. Marzano. aper delivered at the Institute of Archaeology, Oxford University, Nov. 7, 2018.

PUBLIC COMMUNICATION AND OUTREACH

The directors and results of the CRC Pompeii Project have been featured in a variety of public-facing media, including NPR (All Things Considered), BBC, CNN, MIT Technology Review, Discover, Art & Object, and other platforms.

For a list of references to the CRC Pompeii project in the media, including interviews with project directors and public-facing articles by CRC Pompeii team members, see https://blogs.cornell.edu/crcpompeii/publications-and-outreach/public-outreach/.