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Excavation

  • Alba Fucens, Forum (parte orientale)
  • Alba Fucens
  • Alba Fucens
  • Italy
  • Abruzzo
  • Province of L'Aquila
  • Massa d'Albe

Tools

Credits

  • The Italian Database is the result of a collaboration between:

    MIBAC (Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali - Direzione Generale per i Beni Archeologici),

    ICCD (Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione) and

    AIAC (Associazione Internazionale di Archeologia Classica).

  • AIAC_logo logo

Summary (English)

  • The continuation of excavations on the large terrace on the south-eastern side of the forum, north of _taberna _ III (with which it shares the east-west delimitation wall), produced new data regarding the city’s history, especially the Republican phases.

    The construction of the terracing (_terminus_ post quem: second half of the 3rd- first half of the 2nd century B.C., based on the stratigraphy investigated to date) preceded that of the shops (late 2nd – early 1st century B.C.). It was bordered, on the side facing the forum, by a wall of large limestone blocks that it was possible to follow for a length of 22 m, at least four times the module of the shops, which confirmed what was previously supposed. It functioned as a support for the basalt road behind, the via della Medusa, which ran parallel to the forum on a higher level, while the series of dry-stone walls present within the terrace can partially be explained as relating to drainage. Regularizing the eastern side of the forum, the terrace altered its original appearance, obliterating the pre-existing structures. This season’s excavations showed that these comprised a kiln and adjacent structures that probably related to it. Based on the stratigraphy, it was established that the kiln functioned during the first century of the Latin colony’s life (3rd century B.C.).

    The production installation was identified by a series of elements found in one of the terrace fills (slag, mould fragments, vitrified clay, lumps of baked clay). Two parallel walls emerged (_praefurnium_ corridor or supports for the firing floor), built with pieces of broken tile of various sizes, mixed with baked clay reddened by heat. The terrace structures that cut and obliterated the kiln make the excavation complicated and hard to read in plan, which it is hoped will be clarified during coming investigations.

    The kiln was surrounded by a wide area of terrain characterised by a reddish colour caused by exposure to heat, which could suggest the presence of other similar structures. So far, the evidence of the production type consists of several fragments of votive moulds. One of these bore the name of the artisan: M(arcos) Lapio(s) C(ai) s(ervos).
    The kiln must have been associated with a nearby sanctuary, perhaps situated by the forum, to which the votive and architectural choroplastic (3rd – 1st century B.C.), found in fragments within the terrace, can be attributed.

    Lastly, in the area in front of the substructure, beneath the collapsed wall blocks, another element relating to the city’s late antique phases emerged, which can be linked to those found during previous campaigns. This was a surface of closely-joined worn bricks, of which an area measuring c. 120 × 105 cm was exposed. The surface continued under the western excavation edge and the trench will have to be extended in order to clarify its nature.

  • Riccardo Di Cesare - Università degli Studi di Foggia. Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici 
  • Daniela Liberatore - Università degli Studi di Foggia. Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici  

Director

Team

  • Emanuela Ceccaroni - Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell’Abruzzo
  • Paolo Fraticelli
  • : Leonardo Paris – Università di Roma “Sapienza”
  • Wissam Wahbeh – Università di Roma “Sapienza”

Research Body

Funding Body

  • Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici dell’Università degli Studi di Foggia

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