During the emergency excavations of 1971, a large quantity of painted wall plaster was recovered from the peristyled house ‘H’.

It is thought that this house was built in the late first century A.D. and destroyed in the third century A.D. The plaster was found in the destruction levels and lay in a dump or spread to the south of the courtyard area of the house. It was mixed with, and probably to some extent sealed by, mud-brick debris. This may account for its good state of preservation.

From its context, it appears that the plaster decorated two or three of the main rooms of the house, probably including the room on the south-west which has a fine mosaic floor. Traces of red painted plaster can still be seen near floor-level in the room on the south-east corner. The plaster was probably in situ at the time of destruction.

Unfortunately, much of the plaster was lost during the necessarily hurried emergency excavations, and what remains is often broken into small fragments. However, on the whole, both the plaster backing and the painted surface are in good condition. Work on the reconstruction was begun in 1971; it has continued during the season of 1972, 1974, 1975.

Preliminary examination of the plaster itself shows that it is of good quality. The colours appear to have been applied using both the fresco and tempera methods; the main pigments are haematite (dark red), yellow ochre, green earth, lime white and Egyptian frit (bright-blue). A full technical study of the plaster and pigments is still to be undertaken.

Fragments of a number of different painted motifs remain, including figures, foliage, inhabited scroll and varied border designs. In one room at least, the decorative scheme appears to consist of a number of panels outlined with multiple borders. Designs within the panels show architectural perspective and figures. It has been possible to reassemble the fragments of four similar architectural panels and these appear to be linked (by multiple borders) to the panels containing figures.