The 2013 Season of the Pompeii Quadriporticus Project: Final Fieldwork and Preliminary Results

The present article outlines some of the research outcomes for the final season of fieldwork (2013) for the Pompeii Quadriporticus Project (Universities of Massachusetts Amherst and Cincinnati). The focus of our fourth season was on in-field documentation of archival resources, the exploration of various spectrometric methodologies for identifying mortar types, and the use of metrology for identifying construction ‘signatures’ in the various development stages of the Quadriporticus. The season thus aimed to nuance and further build upon the results of our earlier work, from which it is now possible to reconstruct the original form of the Quadriporticus and to chart its development over time – in relative and absolute terms – as well as to know something of its place in the infrastructural history of Pompeii. Even so, and although the following outlines the results of the last of four seasons of fieldwork for the project, this article remains as ‘preliminary’ as the preceding reports, and ultimately anticipates the more complete preparation and publication of the data and of our analysis of it in a final volume