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The small cornerstones and centralized stones revisited

Van der Meer has suggested that the small cornerstones and centralized stones had a decorative purpose. There are only a few buildings however where this could clearly have been the case, especially the House of the Lararium (I,IX,3) and the Horrea Epagathiana (I,VIII,3). Here many stones can be seen in the interior and exterior. In the former building travertine springers were also used. A candidate for decorative use might also be an apartment, later changed to a domus: the Domus del Pozzo (V,III,3). The apartment had a monumental entrance with travertine. But it is curious that two times three cornerstones are in the jambs of the entrance of a shop that became the northernmost room of the apartment.

There are many characteristics that contradict Van der Meer's hypothesis:

Sometimes an entire porticus contains stones, but in many cases the stones were not used systematically, throughout the building. Only a single spot or only a single entrance in a building may contain stones. Only a few of the many exterior staircases in the city have stones. A good example of this restrictive use is the large complex of the Garden Houses (III,IX), where blocks are found only in two vestibules and a single room.

The majority of the stones is found in buildings with a commercial function, such as store buildings and shops. The apartment mentioned above is the only medianum apartment with stones.

The stones were sometimes used in very simple buildings or rooms.

Often the stones have unique features, such as holes in which metal objects were inserted, and vertical grooves in travertine bases below the stones, the grooves being exactly below holes in the stones. Stones inside buildings are very rare. In one of the few cases where they are found in the interior they are combined with four curious and unique holes (House of the Wooden Balcony (I,II,2.6)).

The centralized stones do not catch the eye. You see them when you know they are there, otherwise they may easily be overlooked.

On the next pages the stones will be described in detail and their possible functions will be investigated. The stones have been numbered, beginning with number 100.