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Wall with frame technique

In the VI century A.D., they raised a wall on the western side of the road built using the so-called “frame” or opus africanum technique, comprising of blocks bound with mud mortar and spaces between the vertical structures filled with limestone or brick chips (figs. 1-3).

The orthostates were then covered with plaster, and then etched to give the work a more regular effect.

The origins of those wall textures are still uncertain. Its oldest claims refer to the Phoenician period. The name itself reveals the area in which it was used most, Mediterranean Africa, with a lot of examples in Sicily (even at the end of the IV sec. B.C.) and in Sardinia.

Endorsed by the Romans, the technique was used a lot, for several centuries. According to the definition by J. P. Adam, the specific characteristics of the opus africanum are the «vertical chains of blocks alternating vertical and horizontal stones, the latter wider than the former. These chains are the wall's supporting elements, connected to each other by horizontal rows of smaller stones».

1
Fig. 1 - Wall in opus africanum (photo by Unicity S.p.A.).
2
Fig. 2 - Frame wall closing the house to N-W obstructing access to the road. At the top, 17th century arch (photo by AFS).
3
Fig. 3 - Frame wall bordering the left side of the paved road (photo by AFS).

Bibliografia

  • P. J. ADAM, L’arte di costruire presso i romani. Materiali e tecniche, Milano 1989, pp. 131-132.
  • G. DI LUCA, A. CRISTILLI, Origine ed evoluzione dell’opera telaio: le attestazioni campane, in A. CORALINI (a cura di), DHER. Domus Herculanensis Rationes. Sito, Archivio, Museo, Bologna 2012.
  • R. MARTORELLI, D. MUREDDU, F. PINNA, A. L. SANNA, Nuovi dati sulla topografia di Cagliari in epoca tardoantica e medievale dagli scavi nelle chiese di S. Eulalia e del Santo Sepolcro: Notiziario, in Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana, 79, 2003, pp. 365-408.
  • F. PINNA, Frammenti di storia sotto S. Eulalia. I risultati delle campagne di scavo 1990-1992, in R. MARTORELLI, D. MUREDDU (a cura di), Cagliari, le radici di Marina: dallo scavo archeologico di S. Eulalia un progetto di ricerca formazione e valorizzazione, Cagliari 2002, pp. 33-54.
  • A. L. SANNA, Le indagini archeologiche. La chiesa, in R. MARTORELLI, D. MUREDDU, F. PINNA, A. L. SANNA, Nuovi dati sulla topografia di Cagliari in epoca tardoantica e medievale dagli scavi nelle chiese di S. Eulalia e del Santo Sepolcro: Notiziario, in Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana, 79, 2003, pp. 381-384.

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