User:Mipsallison/Villa Boscoreale

Villa Regina
This rustic villa was discovered more recently in 1977 and therefore has been preserved in its complete state, buried 8m below ground level. The villa is a comfortable working farm rather than a luxurious estate that others nearby were. Nonetheless an elegant central courtyard is colonnaded on three sides with columns of red and white stucco.

Large quantities of pottery and farm implements were found, indicating commercial and production activity. Plaster casts of the original entrance doors were made from the hollow spaces left. A plaster cast of a pig killed in the catastrophe was also made.

The Villa additionally includes preserved parts of a wine press, which would have been used to process the grapes grown on the property. Near the centre of the villa is the wine cellar in which 18 dolia, of total capacity 10,000 litres, were buried for storing the must from the adjoining press.

An unusual find was an oil lamp dating from the 3-5th c. AD showing that the place was tunnelled into in the later Roman era.

Plants at Villa Regina
Pollen analysis conducted at Villa Regina identified various species of cultivated plant life. Tree varieties included Birch, Hazelnut, Cypress, Ash, Walnut, Pine and Olive. Flowers at the Villa included Anemone, Borage, Dianthus, Amaranth, Aster, Sedge, Geranium, Buttercup, Mallow. Pollen samples additionally confirmed the cultivation of grapes at Villa Regina, likely pressed into wine on site. The holes in the ground left by the roots of the Roman vines were found and vines have again been planted in them[citation needed].