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Excavation

  • Carsulae, quartiere nord-est
  • Carsulae, quartiere nord-est
  • Carsulae
  • Italy
  • Umbria
  • Province of Terni
  • San Gemini

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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)

  • During the second excavation campaign at Carsulae, the area immediately south of the forum was investigated for the first time, following a geophysical survey (Trench E).
    A first trench of 160 m2 was opened in this new sector, which revealed a series of walls, mainly preserved at foundation level and probably relating to one, or perhaps two different domus.
    A total of nine rooms were recorded, only one of which was fully excavated, all originally paved with mosaic.
    All the mosaic floors, datable to the Augustan period, were clearly attributable to the first building phase. The mosaics had missing patches and presented damage caused by robbing and agricultural activity.

    All the mosaics found to date had geometric decorations made of white and black tesserae:
    atrium: black tesserae with stone and marble insertions;
    right wing: orthogonal composition of flanking squares, formed by four rectangles arranged around a square;
    threshold between the wing and the north rooms: orthogonal composition of tangential lozenges, forming a grid of rectangles;
    cubiculum: six-point star decorations within hexagons;
    large west room: (perhaps part of another building), on the field, a single meander of interconnecting swastikas with hourglasses surrounded by a border of walls in Greek-style opus quadratum and T-shaped towers.

    As regards the demolition of the structure, the discovery of a group of ten lamps on the floor of the right wing, suggests that it occurred no later than the second half of the 3rd century A.D. Although the city was not abandoned before the end of the 4th century A.D., no other structures were built in this area.
    Interesting evidence also emerged from the discovery of a cut made by a mechanical digger in 1992 in the floor of the atrium. Here, at 80 cm below the domus floor surface, several paving slabs were uncovered that were probably part of the forum of the Republican period.

    Also in the forum area, the west side, which was partially excavated by Umberto Ciotti in 1953, was completely cleaned as it had lain in a state of total abandonment for decades. Part of a large building on a podium, a stone paved surface, a sacellum and a sunken corridor were identified. The podium building can be identified as the Capitolium. Over the next three years, it is hoped to complete the work left unfinished by Ciotti, thus increasing knowledge of the entire forum area.

    Lastly, in trench D (north-east quarter, on the edge of the large sinkhole), the investigation of the large midden of Augustan date continued, advancing six metres towards the centre of the depression. Several thousand fragments of pottery were recovered. A small area east of room C was also investigated, documenting the presence of a small patch of a late cobblestone surface, cut by a large post-medieval trench that also damaged the long wall that formed the front of rooms A, B, and C.

  • Luca Donnini - Associazione ASTRA Onlus  
  • Massimiliano Gasperini 

Director

Team

  • Angelica Catozzi
  • Jaye McKenzie-Clark - Macquarie University Sydney, Department of Ancient History, Faculty of Arts
  • Livia Arcioni
  • Nicola Bruni

Research Body

  • Associazione A.S.T.R.A. Onlus
  • Macquarie University Sydney, Department of Ancient History, Faculty of Arts

Funding Body

  • Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Terni e Narni

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