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At Pompeii, Houses Abandoned After 79 Were Reused Until the Fifth Century
Excavations in the Insula Meridionalis reveal the gradual reoccupation of the Casa dei Mosaici Geometrici after the eruption of AD 79, with spaces transformed into places for habitation, production, and storage until the middle of the fifth century.
Another Story Begins After the Eruption
New research conducted in the Insula Meridionalis is changing the way Pompeii is viewed. The eruption of AD 79 did not necessarily mark the immediate end of all human presence in the buried houses. In the Casa dei Mosaici Geometrici, archaeologists have identified several indications of later activity, with practices gradually continuing until the middle of the fifth century AD. The discovery documents a long phase of reuse that has remained less visible than the city frozen by the catastrophe.
These results come from the project “Safety Measures, Consolidation and Restoration of the Insula Meridionalis, from the Temple of Venus to the Triangular Forum. Regio VIII, Insulae 1, 2 and 7,” launched in September 2023 and still ongoing at the time of publication, on August 21, 2026. The archaeological investigations carried out in the house made it possible to distinguish transformations that no longer correspond to the original domestic organization of the domus, but to new uses adapted to a different form of occupation.
The study was published in the editorial space of the Archaeological Site of Pompeii, which also publishes English-language content devoted to discoveries, research, and the life of the site. This editorial presence accompanies the results of the work and places them within ongoing scientific coverage.
Domus Transformed into Useful Spaces
After the eruption, some areas of the former houses lost their original function. Yet they were not entirely abandoned. The traces recorded point to domestic and productive reoccupation. Existing buildings were adapted to practical needs, in a context where available rooms were reorganized instead of retaining their original layout.
The interventions were often carried out with reused materials. Older structures were remodeled and supplemented with installations intended for everyday activities. Food preparation is attested by cooking surfaces, hearths, and bread ovens. The processing of cereals is indicated by the presence of millstones, while food storage relied in particular on wooden shelves.
Taken together, the evidence reveals a pragmatic occupation. The rooms can no longer be read solely as elements of a Roman house organized before AD 79. They became places where products were prepared, processed, and stored. This development is particularly important because it reveals ordinary activities, less monumental than the decorations but essential for understanding life in the area after the city’s destruction.
Evidence from the Western Sector
In the western sector of the Casa dei Mosaici Geometrici, on level -1, several elements suggest the residential reuse of spaces after the eruption. Room 28 contains numerous circular cavities intended to receive posts. Their arrangement, grouped along the eastern side of the room, may correspond to the installation of a wooden structure.
The archaeologists suggest that it may have been a shelf. Caution is important, since the remains do not provide a complete reconstruction of the arrangement. The concentration and shape of the holes, together with the presence of fragments of charred wood in their fill, nevertheless form a coherent body of evidence for a functional installation in this reoccupied space.
At the center of Room 28, a large quadrangular cavity provides a different clue. It is interpreted as the socket for a wooden load-bearing post. This may have supported a floor or even the roof of the room. The hypothesis shows that reoccupation did not consist solely of using the surviving walls, but could also require structural interventions to make the spaces habitable or usable again.
What the Fills Reveal
The fills of the postholes contained several categories of material. Fragments of charred wood were found together with cooking pottery and a fragment of African sigillata. Considered separately, these elements are not abundant. Taken together, however, they indicate activity after the eruption of AD 79 and reinforce the interpretation that the house was used later.
Cooking pottery points to activities involving fire and food preparation, while the charred wood preserves traces of structures that disappeared in their original form. The fragment of African sigillata also provides a material chronological marker for this later activity. The source nevertheless emphasizes the limited nature of the assemblage, inviting a distinction between established observations and proposed reconstructions.
This combination makes it possible to reconstruct a sequence rather than an isolated event. The house was taken over, adapted, and used over time. The traces do not describe a simple, temporary intrusion into a ruined building, but a series of actions accompanying the gradual transformation of the spaces after the catastrophe.
Activity Continuing for Several Centuries
The evidence from the Casa dei Mosaici Geometrici belongs to a broad chronology. Activities following the eruption gradually developed until the middle of the fifth century AD. Duration is one of the study’s most concrete contributions: it shows that the change in use cannot be reduced to a single phase immediately following the eruption.
The installations associated with cooking, milling, and storage point to recurring needs. They suggest that the spaces were integrated into an everyday organization, with functions that could change according to the occupants and the period. The houses of the Insula Meridionalis thus appear as reusable structures, capable of accommodating new practices despite the disappearance of their original setting.
This interpretation rests on modest traces: postholes, charred fragments, pottery, and installations directly associated with activities. Their significance comes from their association and their location within the rooms. The study therefore connects architectural transformations with everyday actions, following the way an old house became a space adapted to new uses.
From Late Antiquity to the Age of Memory
The title of the study places the research between the end of Antiquity and the Renaissance. The elements detailed in the publication mainly concern the Late Antique reoccupation of the Casa dei Mosaici Geometrici, with activities continuing progressively until the middle of the fifth century. The connection with the Renaissance is announced by the article’s broader framework, but the observations presented here focus primarily on uses following the eruption and on the arrangements identified in the house.
The Insula Meridionalis project is carrying out safety measures, consolidation, and restoration between the Temple of Venus and the Triangular Forum, in Regio VIII, insulae 1, 2, and 7. The discoveries from the Casa dei Mosaici Geometrici form part of this ongoing intervention and show how work on structures can also produce new archaeological data about the periods that followed the eruption.
At Pompeii, the image of a city stopped in AD 79 is therefore complemented by that of a site taken over and transformed. In Room 28, the posts, charred wood, and equipment associated with domestic activities make this continuity visible. The Casa dei Mosaici Geometrici thus preserves the memory of several successive uses, from the Roman house to the occupations that reinvested its ruins.
Sources: pompeiisites.org