Levelling was undertaken for the construction of a car-park at Aosta on a large, undeveloped area which is accessible from the via Prée-Fossés. This revealed the foundations of walls, orientated on a NS and EW axis (dating to the 17th century or later). The identification of an underground channel, running in an EW direction, below these structures and of occupation levels dating to the late Iron Age, which emerged in the western area of the site, lead to the extension of the investigations in order to evaluate the site’s history.
Excavation uncovered alignments of large cobbles, dating to the Iron Age (La Téne D), associated with floors on the western part of the site. Running to the east was a large accumulation of stones, a sort of earth-work constructed with carefully chosen material. An alluvial layer covered these remains and isolated them from subsequent events on the site.
Occupation in the Roman period was of an agricultural nature, attested by land reclamation ditches filled with rubble, such as smashed cobbles, bricks and amphora sherds from demolished structures. These ditches relate to the last phase of cultivation in the late antique period, a date confirmed by the numismatic evidence.
The abandonment of the area seems to be confirmed by the discovery of a cemetery, in the central-western zone of the site, containing 21 inhumations surrounded by stones fixed into the ground. The graves contained no artefacts and probably date to the 5th to 6th century A.D. It was not possible to check the extension of the cemetery to the north due to the presence of a channel. From a stratigraphical point of view, it is difficult to date the cemetery’s origins. It is certain that in the early medieval and medieval periods its northern edge was altered by the construction of a supporting wall. This anti-erosion structure was probably built because the inhabitants of Borgo Sant’Orsola wished to reinforce the southern part of their suburb which was situated outside the Roman city walls. (Patrizia Framarin)