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Excavation

  • Sinagoga
  • Ostia antica
  •  
  • Italy
  • Lazio
  • Rome
  • Rome

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)

  • Three regions were studied: (1) the exterior north wall of building 1, outside rooms 7, 11, and 14; (2) the hall of the synagogue, IV.17.1.14; and (3) the area in and around room IV.17.1.18, including its adjacent corridor, IV.17.2.10.

    Two trenches were positioned on the exterior of the north wall: T18A and T18B. T18A revealed a set of brick steps ascending from the exterior into room 11. Several surfaces were also revealed beneath this feature. Stepped like a terrace as a result of previous excavations in the area, they ascended to north to the via Severiana. The OSMAP staff excavated all of these sealed loci and future excavations will hopefully clarify the relationships between the pavement levels, the building and the via Severiana.

    In T18B, positioned directly to the west of T18A, the same surfaces were found. One reddish-brown surface was identified as running beneath the exterior pier of the synagogue. It was a damaged cocciopesto surface. During its removal, a late fifth century AD coin was discovered beneath the pier. This find now provides a terminus post quem for the construction of the supporting pier.

    In room 14, two trenches were positioned to test the hypothesis that the building was constructed on top of a third-century ground-raising project. T16 was positioned in the northwest corner. T17 was positioned in the center of the room.

    Although the ancient floors were missing, and although there was modern backfill in both trenches, traces of sand, shell, and ceramic deposits were identified at roughly the same elevation. In T16, this material was located at 1.15 m ASL and contained ceramics datable between the first and third centuries (Olcese 1a, 3, and 4). In T17, this material was located at 1.12–18 m ASL and contained material from the mid second century (Tripolitana 1) and first through third centuries (Gauloise 4-5). Because the material from T16 was excavated next to the north wall foundations, it is likely that the standing architecture post-dates the mid second century, at the earliest.

    Finally, three trenches were positioned in IV.17.1.18 and IV.17.2.10 to explore features of earlier excavations that were photographed but never analyzed. T19 (on the east side of room 18) and T21 (on the west side of room 18) revealed the presence of a foundation wall, or perhaps a drain, with plaster facing beneath the floor of room 18.

    T20, located outside room 18 (IV.17.2.10) revealed a terra battuta surface (c. 1.60 m ASL). Ceramics from beneath this surface (c. 0.33–37 m ASL) suggest a date for it well in advance of the third or fourth century. This material seems to confirm the post-fourth-century phase of the building observed in 2004, in room IV.17.1.10.

  • Douglas Boin 
  • Susan Gelb - University of Texas at Austin 
  • L. Michael White - University of Texas and Institute for the Study of Antiquity and Christian Origins 

Director

Team

  • Bartolo Natoli
  • Jonathan MacClellan
  • Steve Lundy
  • Nicoletta Conti
  • Alan Stearman
  • Daniela Williams - Università degli Studi Roma Tre
  • Adele Rinaldi
  • Letizia Ceccarelli - University of Cambridge
  • Marzia Di Mento - L.A.T.E.R.E.S. ARC. TER
  • Amanda Kimura
  • Luca Mocchegiani Carpano - Responsabile del Servizio di Prevenzione e Protezione (H&S Officer) per l'attività di ricerca e studio archeologico della UTEXAS

Research Body

  • The University of Texas at Austin

Funding Body

  • The Institute for the Study of Antiquity and Christian Origins at the University of Texas at Austin

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