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Excavation

  • San Martino del Piano
  • Fossombrone
  • Forum Sempronii
  • Italy
  • The Marches
  • Pesaro and Urbino
  • Fossombrone

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 2007 campaign worked on two areas: the first was the so-called “Domus of Europa” and the second was an area next to the central baths, immediately north of the decumanus minor, in sector IV.

    Domus of Europa

    The entire area of the Domus of “ Europa and the bull” , excavated in 2004-2006, was cleaned.
    Excavations were undertaken in Sector B3, towards the cardo “dei Seviri”, in rooms A and G.

    Room A (3.57 × 6.06 m) was entered via a stone threshold, 1.60 m long, situated in the north-western corner. In this room patches of mosaic floor with white tesserae abutted a layer of wall plaster which continued below the floor, showing that it belonged to an earlier phase. A trench dug in the south-eastern corner identified an earlier mosaic floor, better-made than the one above, which was in phase with the wall plaster. Unfortunately, the central part of this floor seemed to be missing.

    Excavations continued in Room G (6.65 × 6 m) revealing the presence, in the centre, of a beaten- earth floor, and of four virtually intact amphorae positioned one beside the other. The amphorae were removed and taken to the laboratory where the contents will be removed and tested for the presence of any food residue. A narrow drain ran along the southern wall of the room and connected with the small drain running below the floor of room B on an east-west alignment. Room G can thus be identified as a service room.

    A large group of undergraduates from Urbino University’s course in conservation participated in the 2007 campaign. Under the guidance of the Superintendency’s head conservator Arduino Spegne they worked on the conservation of the mosaic floors, walls and wall plaster in various rooms of the Domus of Europa.

    Decumanus minor

    In sector IV excavation of the late antique tombs north of the road continued. Eight inhumation burials had been discovered in 2005 and four in 2006. To these a further nine were added this season, also characterised by a simple bed of tiles and absence of grave goods. The burials date to a phase subsequent to the abandonment of the town.
    A number of the burials used the underlying walls, probably from the shops situated along the decumanus and abutting the southern wall of the bath building occupying the centre of the insula. The walls, built in opus vittatum with an internal core “a sacco” were on a north-south alignment and presented two wings at the south end.

    A number of contiguous rooms facing onto the decumanus minor were uncovered. These were denominated D, G and E and can be interpreted as shops abutting the perimeter wall of the bath building and facing onto the portico along the decumanus. Room G presented a long entrance threshold constituted by three slabs of Furlo limestone in which the holes for housing the door hinges were preserved.
    Excavation continued together with the conservation of the structures in order to render them safe and to acquire further information of use for the study of the building’s various phases. The project, in agreement with the Archaeological Superintendency of the Marche, also foresees interventions for the protection and enhancement of the Archaeological Park with the aim of opening two of the domus with mosaic floors and wall plaster to visitors.

  • Mario Luni - Università degli Studi di Urbino, Istituto di Archeologia e Storia dell’Arte Antica 
  • Oscar Mei - Università di Urbino, Dipartimento di Scienze del Testo e del Patrimonio Culturale 

Director

Team

  • Claudia Cardinali
  • Giancarlo Gori - Museo di Fossombrone
  • Marcello Montanari
  • Paolo Quiri - Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici delle Marche

Research Body

  • Università degli Studi di Urbino

Funding Body

  • Comune di Fossombrone

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