The Pompeii Artifact Life History Project (PALHIP) carried out its tenth and final fieldwork season at Pompeii (Napoli), Italy, between June 30 and July 27, 2024.
The PALHIP team, which consisted of four persons (Ted Peña, Aaron Brown, Susanna Faas-Bush, Francesca LaPasta), completed its description of the portable artifacts recovered in the various residences in the block identified as Regio I, Insula 11 (I.11 in the Pompeii address system), expanding its coverage to include the items from residences I.11.11, I.11.12, I.11.13, I.11.14, I.11.15.9 and I.11.16.
Team members also carried out work in the Parco Archeologico di Pompei archives, examining documentation relevant to the excavation of block I.11, and completed the project’s rapid architectural survey of the various residences in the block, documenting elements of the structures relevant to access to and within the residence and the disposition of portable material culture. A topic of particular interest to the project is that of locks and keys, as illustrated in the two accompanying images, the first of which shows the plaster cast of the inner side of a door found in situ in the rear entrance of residence I.11.15.9, with a wooden bar and iron lock and latch fittings, and the second of which shows an iron key for a slide lock likely fitted to a piece of storage furniture.