The 2014 excavations uncovered a part of Rome, unknown to date, immediately east of the sanctuary of Vesta, in the area opened two years ago and whose investigation was completed this season. Last year, evidence showed that the cult site in front of the structure we identified as the porta Mugonia dating to the archaic and late Republican periods, dated to at least the second half of the 8th century B.C. and was continuously in use until the early 2nd century B.C. This cult area was entered from the road (the so-called clivius Palatinus A), which from the via Sacra climbed up to the above mentioned gate. During the 8th century B.C., a rectangular room, with pisè walls and a monumental hearth at the centre, was built within the area.

The results from this season’s campaign fixed its chronology (Latium phase IVA1), and revealed that there was an earlier phase: the earliest phase was simply restored in the Latium phase IVA1, without any substantial alterations to its plan. An altar was placed at the centre of this first sacellum that was subsequently rebuilt. However, the construction of the cult building did not mark the beginning of the history of this part of the Palatine slopes. One of the most striking new discoveries was that this sacellum was built on top of the obliteration levels covering a proto-urban dwelling. The excavation reached natural, documenting the entire stratigraphic sequence of the slope. The earliest occupation of the area was constituted by the remains of huts, built from the Latium phase IIB onwards, and continually rebuilt for a total of five phases until the Latium phase IIIB 1, when they were destroyed. These remains can certainly be associated with the scarcer remains previously documented a few metres further up the hill.