A stuccoed and painted wall (above) of rubble set in a wooden framework, as discovered (Reg. IX, Ins. xiii, no. 6). The wood had slowly become carbonized or disintegrated, hence the workmen are isolating each compartment preparatory to re-erecting it in a new framework. (Right) The result of the above undertaking: the front of a fuller's establishment (as attested by a painted inscription). Checkerboard pattern in vivid colors- white, green and dark red. Here the removal of the layers of ashes and of the topmost pumice stones has disclosed one of the most remarkable among the painted house fronts (Reg. IX, Ins. vii, no. 1). The wooden beams in which the rubble of the upper part of the wall was originally set were no longer serviceable, and it was necessary to reconstruct with steel and reinforced concrete. 150 ARCHAEOLOGY