Phase IIa: Republican modifications

The House of Diana seems to have been constructed in the early or middle 2nd c. B.C., and the first hiatus in its use seems to have begun when Cosa was sacked around 70 B.C. This time frame allows as much as 120 years of occupation, and it would be helpful to be able to subdivide this period into more than one phase. Unfortunately, modifications were made piecemeal and in several different and non-contiguous parts of the house, and it is thus impossible to determine the precise sequence of events. For this reason, all Republican changes and signs of occupation will have to be discussed as a single phase.

The only layers we could associate with use in this period are located in the cesspits, which were conveniently filled in later in the Republican occupation. These layers include thin deposits of greasy greenish-black soil in the cesspits in shops C and D at the front of the house (286 in C, 273 in D) and a layer of clayey sediment (403) in a settling depression in the floor of the rear cesspit. These probably represent organic waste and contained no pottery. In the late 2nd c. B.C., the front pits seem to have been filled in with rubbish, including nearly-complete amphorae (part IV, p. 286ff.). Both deposits (in C, 271; in D, from bottom up, 269, 266, 261, and 260) included very dark, rich soil that may represent the decomposition of organic waste or wooden flooring material used as fill. Numerous joining sherds were scattered through the various stratigraphic layers we identified in the fill of D, confirming that the pit was filled in the course of a single action. The fills in D contain a number of plates, as well as whole amphorae. In C, a relatively large number of bone styli and of ceramic cups and bottles included in the fill may bear some relation to the activity that took place in this room during the Republican period: perhaps we are dealing with a wine shop. While the pit in D went out of use entirely, the pit in C was only partially filled; above the fill, a surface of close-fitting but irregular tile fragments was laid down (pl. 51). The full extent and function of this tile pavement are unclear, but it was probably located only in the area of the cesspit and may have been a work or washing surface.

The interior of the house seems to have undergone very little change during this period. In the rear, however, several adjustments were made. In room L, a fairly large, deep cut was made along the west wall (184). The function of this arrangement remains unclear, and there may have been significant excavation error on our part in this room. As a tentative hypothesis, however, we might suggest that the cut in the floor of L was used as a washing basin. Other Republican houses at Cosa often include a puteus or basin with quarter-round moldings and the absence of such a facility in the house at this early stage may have required an alternative solution. Between room L and the bathhouse, in the future room P, a second large cut appears to have been designed to take water from the roof, where the outer slope of the House of Diana met that of its neighbor, AB VI, and direct it into the cesspit. This feature cuts an earlier rough signinum pavement, which may have been damaged by prior runoff.

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