Archaeological investigations, undertaken during work to extend the cemetery of Venosa, brought to light new data regarding the first phases of the Latin colony on a site which is outside the urban context of the late Republican and Imperial city.
The remains of two 3rd century B.C. buildings were uncovered. The first comprised a row of at least four rooms, defined by a long wall on a N-S axis with three walls at right angles to it. The black glaze ware found indicates a date within the second half of the 3rd century B.C., a date that is confirmed by the find of an aes grave, showing a dolphin, coined by the mint at Venosa.
The second building, partially excavated, comprised three rectangular rooms and a porticoed courtyard. In the south-east corner of room γ, was a structure interpreted as a vasca, connected to a small channel which fed into a small external well. The presence of a hearth and fragments of large containers seem to indicate that this room functioned as a bath or room for ablutions, and is comparable to similar structures attested in indigenous dwellings of the same period.
Pottery and coins from the mint at Venosa found beneath the roof collapses show that the building was still in function during the second half of the 3rd century B.C.
The excavation revealed the presence of a settlement of slightly later date than the foundation of the Roman colony of Venusta (291 B.C.). In the same area there is also strong evidence of pre-Roman occupation attested by material dating to the 4th century B.C. in the surface layers and by earlier structures. A series of other finds, made in the past at Venosa, had already attested the frequentation of the plain from the 6th century B.C. (Maria Luisa Nava)