NGI Pompeii. Porta Nola Tombs. Tomb garden or bustum?

August 2016. Photo courtesy Stephen Kay, British School at Rome.

In 2016 the excavation of a rectangular structure was completed, built just behind the funerary monument of Aesquillia Polla. Variously described by earlier research as a funerary precinct, garden or ustrinum, the 2016 excavation sought to understand the role of this structure, built in a prominent position opposite the Nolan Gate. Once the excavation had removed layers dating to activity of the early twentieth century, which included the burial of a dog and the loss of several terracotta smoking pipes, the work revealed large deposits of construction material used to raise the level beneath the building. However, the 2016 excavation did not record any cremations, supporting the theory of a late construction that was not used before the eruption of AD 79.

See https://britishschoolatrome.wordpress.com/2016/09/08/digging-pompeii-the-2016-summer-excavations/

NGI Pompeii. May 2006. Small rectangular area between tomb of M. Obellius Firmus and tomb of Aesquillia Polla.

According to Spano, this could have been a tomb garden, but this was not conclusive.

See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1910, p. 393.

Jashemski quotes Pozzi as believing it could be a bustum, A place for burning funeral pyres.

See Jashemski, W. F., 1993. The Gardens of Pompeii, Volume II: Appendices. New York: Caratzas. (p. 255-6, no. 526).

According to Stephen Kay [by email 14/3/2020], this shows the wooden fence that was placed around an excavation conducted by De Caro alongside the road (between the tomb of Obellio and the bustum behind the tomb of Aesquillia Polla). As there were no structures at a greater depth, we were asked to backfill this trench in 2016. The bustum or garden excavation is shown in the photo above. Our excavations revealed that the structure was late in its construction, so I would agree with the hypotheses that it was constructed as a burial space that was never put into use.

NGI Pompeii. May 2006. Tomb of M. Obellius Firmus on left and rectangular area on right, looking south-east.

NGI Pompeii. May 2006. Looking north along ancient roadway, past tomb garden NGI.

NGI Pompeii. May 2006. Looking south to tomb garden NGI, past the tomb of M. Obellius Firmus.

NGI Pompeii. May 2006. Wooden fence of tomb garden on right with south wall of tomb of M. Obellius Firmus on left.