Opus craticum or craticii is an ancient Roman construction technique described by Vitruvius in his books De architectura as wattlework which is plastered over. It is often employed to construct partition walls and floors. Vitruvius disparaged this building technique as a grave fire risk, likely to have cracked plaster, and not durable.Vitruvius, De Architectura, Book II, Chapter 8, paragraph 20. http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Vitruvius/2*.html#8.20 Surviving examples were found in the archaeological excavations at Pompeii and more so at Herculaneum, buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD and excavated beginning in 1929.
