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Volume 100 No. 1
January 1996
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Contignatio, Vitruvius, and the Campanian Builder
Roger B. Ulrich
Most Roman multistoried structures required structural wooden beams for the construction of floors, ceilings, and roofs. In the seventh book of De Architectura, Vitruvius describes how floors framed in wood, or contignationes, were to be constructed. According to Vitruvius, the wooden beams and planking of the contignatio could support a thick concrete subfloor and top pavement. This practice can be verified by archaeological evidence. An examination of the traces of mezzanine floors from tabernae at Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Ostia permits an assessment of the Roman builder's awareness of the safe loading characteristics of structural wooden beams and the degree to which sawn lumber and its use were standardized among contractors working in central Italy. The differences in the techniques of construction observable between the examples from Campania and those from Ostia reflect a less wasteful use of heavy stress-grade timbers during the High Empire.
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