It appears
to have been destroyed by fire, and most of the stones used in the
buildings have since been carried away. These circumstances are
unfavourable for ascertaining the part which worms have played in
the burial of the ruins; but as careful sections of the rubbish
overlying an ancient town have seldom or never before been made in
England, I will give copies of the most characteristic portions of
some of those made by Mr. Joyce. They are of too great length to
be here introduced entire.
An east and west section, 30 ft. in length, was made across a room
in the Basilica, now called the Hall of the Merchants (Fig. 9).
The hard concrete floor, still covered here and there with
tesserae, was found at 3 ft. beneath the surface of the field,
which was here level. On the floor there were two large piles of
charred wood, one alone of which is shown in the part of the
section here given. This pile was covered by a thin white layer of
decayed stucco or plaster, above which was a mass, presenting a
singularly disturbed appearance, of broken tiles, mortar, rubbish
and fine gravel, together 27 inches in thickness. Mr. Joyce
believes that the gravel was used in making the mortar or concrete,
which has since decayed, some of the lime probably having been
dissolved.
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