New evidence for wood and reed ceilings from Roman Pannonia

Abstract Relatively little is known about Roman age wooden ceilings especially in the provinces, since only few have survived. Most of our evidence comes from the Vesuvian cities in Southern Italy, along with the information provided by the literary sources (e.g. Vitruvius, Cetius Faventinus, Palladius), which also concern building practices in Italy. Wooden ceilings, however, were widespread, and the most frequently used types: plank ceilings, coffered ceilings, lathe ceilings and reed ceilings were built in the provinces as well. Flat and vaulted ceilings made of reed bundles or woven lathes or sticks are usually called hanging or non-structural ceilings since these were fastened to or hung from the ceiling beams. These structures were then covered with several layers of plaster and decorated with colourful figurative or geometric paintings. They were cheap and easy to build, and the result was an impressive realistic imitation of masonry vaults. Examples from Gallia and Germania have already been published in detail, which provides a solid starting point for the study of the Pannonian examples. The paper presents data of recently excavated wood and reed ceilings in Roman Pannonia collected from publications. The information about the ceilings is derived from the close examination of preserved wooden remains and of the back side of plaster fragments that carry the imprints of ceiling structures. Unfortunately, the back side of wall and ceiling paintings has not always been scrutinized for traces left by wall or ceiling structures which has caused loss of information that can be prevented in the future with the thorough investigation and publication of such finds. Apart from the only surviving plank ceiling found in a cellar in the civil town of Brigetio (Komárom, Hungary), a selection of non-structural woven lathe and stick ceilings, as well as a bulrush ceiling have been collected from publications written mainly by wall painting restorers. These provide evidence for the use of such flat and vaulted ceilings from the late 1st to the late 4th century AD in different building types, for instance in town houses, baths, villas, a late Roman palace, sanctuaries, etc. The examples discussed come from well-known settlements like Carnuntum (Bad Deutsch-Altenburg, Austria), Savaria (Szombathely, Hungary), Brigetio, Aquincum (Budapest, Hungary), Gorsium (Tác, Hungary), Poetovio (Ptuj, Slovenia) and Szabadbattyán but this only reflects the state of the research. The evidence collected from Pannonia filled a hiatus in the spatial distribution of Roman age wood and reed ceilings and added to the corpus of such ceilings outside of Italy. This is especially important in the case of woven lathe and stick ceilings because formerly they were only known from a few examples in southwestern Germany and northern France.