In 1987 the University of Bologna’s Department of Archaeology investigated the Roman city of Suasa, municipium of the VI Augustan region (Umbria), situated in the hinterland of Senigallia. The excavations uncovered large part of a mid Imperial domus, preceded by a late Republican complex, with important mosaics and wall paintings and located the city’s necropolis. Moreover, the amphitheatre has been uncovered for some time whilst the completed excavation of the large forum (c. 100 x 60 m), dating to the first decades of the 1st century A.D., is more recent. The forum was preceded by Republican phases which included a cult area. Aerial photography located the theatre just to the west of the amphitheatre. Recent investigations undertaken in the domus of the Coeidii involved almost the entire area of the rear peristyle courtyard. A raising of the floor level in the peristyle courtyard and a general reorganisation of the area in the 3rd century A.D. was revealed. The construction of private baths perhaps dates to the same period. The baths, in the eastern sector of the excavation, were below a layer of rubble and had at least three heated rooms and a larger one that was not heated. The three rooms, on a north-south alignment with traces of hypocaust, are rectangular and the last one to the south has a large apse on the south wall. The structure went out of use between the 5th and 6th century A.D., as attested by the find of the point from a small amphora (spatheion), when the whole area was covered with rubble in which numerous tombs were then dug. The headless torso of a male nude statue with traces of metal cramps on the back was found within this fill. Originally the statue must have been positioned against a wall or in a niche but it is not possible to say whether it was in the bath complex The tombs excavated are simple, built with re-used materials and without grave goods. As they all cut the rubble which covers the entire area their terminus post quem is constituted by the rubble layer itself. The presence of a tomb that pre-dates the rubble dump attests the first phase of the bath’s abandonment, during which the area was still practicable, before its total obliteration by the rubble. (MiBAC)

The ancient Roman _municipium_ of Suasa stands on the right bank of the river Cesano in the Marche and in antiquity it fell within the Regio VI . In recent years, excavations have mainly concentrated on two sectors of the ancient urban area (extension circa 18 hectares): the forum on one side of the basalt paved main road and on the other a residential area comprising the mid-Imperial house named the _domus_ of the _Coeidii_. The 2009 campaign concentrated on the northern part of the forum. Below a sequence of _tabernae_ delimiting the forum on this side, the remains of a number of earlier cult buildings emerged with altars standing in front of them. One of the buildings was a previously known rectangular structure of Republican date (circa 2nd century B.C.), another was circular and its base had been uncovered in 2009. These were revealed to be a circular building on a _podium_ and a rectangular building with clay walls on a masonry footing. The 2009 excavations revealed the internal organisation of the latter which comprised a number of tile built walls which are still being excavated. On the other front, the excavation looked at the courtyard of the _domus_ of the _Coeidii_ (2nd century A.D.). Recently the private baths were uncovered, built soon after the main building of the large dwelling (second half of the 2nd century A.D.). During the 2009 campaign extensive stratigraphical excavations were undertaken in order to confirm the building chronology. A number of walls emerged belonging to subsequent constructions, relating to a late phase of ruralisation of the urban area. These structures, successively robbed, seemed to have obliterated one of the prefurnia (or an inspection opening for the cleaning of the hypocausts) within the baths. Overall the stratigraphy, including a deep dump rich in large amphora fragments with flat bases (2nd-3rd century A.D.), confirms the preceding chronology for the baths. Important data also emerged from an analysis of the finds from the latest excavations. Some of the deep stratigraphy, at times associated with walls revealed finds datable to at least the first half of the 3rd century B.C., both imported and local. Finds linked to the Picenan tradition were also present. This data together with other more recent information has led to a revision of the chronology relating to the birth of the Roman settlement. It seems that Romanisation, and thus the process of urbanisation occurred within an already complex, stratified and multicultural (Gaulish and Piceno) fabric in an early period, probably after the battle of Sentino (295 B.C.) and certainly before the _lex Flaminia_ (232 a.C.). Lastly, the final part of the 2009 campaign was dedicated to the geophysical survey and kite aerial photography as part of the University of Bologna summer school “in depth without digging”. The school welcomed students of various nationalities (including Iraq and the United Arab Emirates) and availed itself of some of the main experts in this field linked to several international institutes (universities of Siena, Modena, Reggio Emilia, Denver in Colorado, Munich, CNR Paris). The survey results, still being processed, reveal an unknown physiognomy for the urban area and perhaps provide a reason to link the town to several large public structures, such as the forum and amphitheatre. In the next years these investigations will form the basis of the research plan, which will aim to clarify some of the anomalies in the urban plan of Suasa (for example no town walls are known).

The Roman town of _Suasa_ (3rd century B.C.-4th century A.D.) extends (between the two necropolises to the south and north) along the sides of the main basalt paved road, with the forum on the west side and a large residential quarter to the east (with the _Domus_ dei _Coiedii_, the House of the First Style, the Edificio di Oceano). The theatre and amphitheatre are situated up hill from the residential area. The rest of the urban layout (walls, roads and other buildings) can be partially reconstructed from the results of recent geophysical surveys and aerial photographs. The 2010 research concentrated on an area corresponding to the tabernae F 38-40 in the imperial forum (1st century A.D.). A sacred context of Republican date (circa 2nd-1st century B.C.) had previously come to light below these structures. The complex comprised a circular temple on a _podium_ to the west and a second rectangular temple on a _podium_ a little further to the east, each with an altar in front. Still further east there was a slightly later building (1st century B.C.) with a terracotta floor. The new excavations investigated the interior of the rectangular _podium_ (cut and overlaid by the foundations of F39). A thick deposit of successive gravel dumps (over 50 cm) was removed which in turn covered several walls built with intact tiles bonded with clay and cobbles (only partly uncovered in 2009). These walls had been partially robbed at the moment of the forum’s construction. These structures, first built up and then gravelled, delimited a central room open towards the south. The two main structures (external _podium_ and internal room) were connected by short dividing walls (two on each side, except for the front). At present it appears that the structure inside the _podium_ had never been practicable but was covered with gravel from the beginning. However, the opening at the front of the room, on the same axis as the _podium_’s façade, suggests a threshold and thus a room which could be entered. The floor level inside this room could be either a level relating to the building site or the remains of a floor. Several questions remain to be answered. The main hypothesis, at present without the support of archaeological evidence, suggests that there was a stairway leading up to the podium that was later removed, thus leaving the space that appears as a central opening. The _podium_, with moulded open façade (perhaps from the beginning for a ramp) was built with masonry footings and mud brick walls faced with red plaster. The foundation trenches of the forum produced elements that probably belonged to the temple such as white grooved stucco (from the columns) and patches of _opus signinum_ paving. Outside the _podium_ (in correspondence with the _taberna_ F 40 which closed the northern wing of the _forum_ complex) two pits were excavated which cut deeply into the terracotta floor of the building east of the sacred area. One of these was in turn cut and covered by the foundation of the east perimeter wall of room F 40. At the bottom of the hole, at circa 2 m below the flooring, there was a structure which seemed to belong to a very early building phase, pre-dating not only the forum but also the 2nd-1st century B.C. sacred complex.

The Department of Archaeology at Bologna University undertook its annual excavation campaign at Suasa between June and October 2011. Work concentrated on the area of the main road running through the centre of the town, between the Domus of the Coiedeii and the House of the first style on the east side, and the forum to the west. The road, exposed for about 80 m (4 m wide), was paved in basalt, had lateral sidewalks and the remains of lead fistulae were also present. From north to south the eastern frontage on the road comprised Building 7, the paving in front covered with small hexagonal terracotta tiles; the front of the _Domus_ of the _Coiedeii_ with at its centre Building S, Building 3 above the ancient entrance to the House of the first style, Buildings 5 and 6. In correspondence with the forum entrance the road’s basalt paving covered its foundations. As the forum was built during the Julio-Claudian period, the basalt paving can be said to be later. At the north-eastern corner of the forum the basalt road met a via glareata at a right angle. At this point, the underground drain collecting gutter water from the forum, also known from the old excavations, continued underneath the basalt paving towards the eastern edge of the excavation. Below the basalt road (perhaps dating to the 2nd-3rd century A.D.), lay an earlier gravel road (first decades of the 1st century A.D.). The basalt road itself was overlain by a beaten earth road and compact rubble dating to the late antique period (perhaps the 4th century A.D.). The entire area was covered by agricultural soil (5th century A.D.). The eastern street frontage was cut by an aqueduct dating to the end of the 19th century. To the north of the _Domus_ of the _Coiedeii_ was Building 7, accessible directly from the street. Mosty of this structure still lies beyond the excavation edge. Further towards the south, was the entrance structure to the Domus of the Coiedeii, only now completely visible. The area between the _Domus_ of the _Coiedeii_ (2nd century A.D.) and Building 3, overlying the entrance to the House of the first style (2nd century B.C.), was occupied by a portico, circa six metres in depth. This formed a continuous series of covered areas, situated in correspondence with the structures behind. Some of these structures were distinguished by their more monumental aspect and the related sections of the portico floor were paved in stone (aula S, Building 6, unexcavated). Between Building 3 and Building 6 there was a similar structure without paving at the front (Building 5). Therefore, to the south of the _Domus_, on the eastern frontage, there was a sequence of three buildings (3, 5, 6) with a portico in the front of them. The aule to the rear of the portico were raised on podia and entered via stone steps (on the line of the entrance to the _Domus_ ). The paving in the aula of building 3 dated to the 3rd century A.D. However, it seems that the original layout dated to the 1st century A.D., when the forum in front of it was built, and the underlying entrance to the House of the first style was demolished. In fact, building 3 stands exactly in front of the forum entrance and, therefore, must belong to the same building programme.

This season, the excavations undertaken by Bologna University’s Department of Archaeology at Suasa investigated building 6, facing onto the eastern side of the main basalt road (south of buildings 3 and 5), building 8 situated on the west side of the road (north of the forum), and the east necropolis (a short distance from the south necropolis). Building 6 continued the sequence of halls opening onto the basalt road (buildings 3 and 5). To date a paved area leading into a rear hall, paved with mosaic (outside the trench edge) has been exposed. The size of the paved area (23 m), situated along the portico east of the basalt road, suggested the presence of an important public building, perhaps with civic functions. The best-preserved phase (3rd century A.D.) was heavily robbed and was built on top of an earlier structure. Building 8 was part of a large complex that has only been partially investigated. This was a large structure, which at least in the exposed part, seemed be functional rather than residential. Dating to the mid imperial period it overlay an earlier construction. Later, a well and a tank were constructed here. The east necropolis is situated on state-owned land east of the Pian Volpello road. Its remains were discovered when a trench was opened in order to check a linear trace seen in aerial photographs and geophysical survey results, which crosses the plateau from east to west, reaching the banks of the river Cesano. A gravel road 2.70 m wide lay below the plough soil (80-110 cm deep) about 5 m of which was exposed. Along its southern edge was a wall, which contained the road and functioned as a perimeter for a funerary enclosure (south area). In fact, a group of early to mid imperial (1st-2nd century A.D.) burials lay just south of the road. The group comprised nine cremations, mainly in amphora, and an _a cassa_ infant burial. There were no containing structures on the other side (north) of the gravel road, but it bordered a second area of earlier (2nd-1st century B.C.) cremation burials. Some tombs had stone _cippi_ that were no longer _in situ_ with one exception bearing the inscription VIBIA GAVIA and decorated with a false door on the back. Both this stele and another without inscription have a cist created in the thickness of the stone closed with a stone slab sealed with lead. Inside were some remains selected from the related cremation burials. A third stone grave marker, found in a collapse, was decorated with the relief of a female figure. Continuation of the investigation in the northern area of the necropolis revealed a sequence of levels raising the height of the road surface (about 60 cm thick), datable to between the Republican and mid imperial periods (2nd century B.C.-2nd century A.D.)

This was the 13th excavation campaign undertaken by the University of Bologna’s Department of Archaeology. This season’s excavations investigated the gravel road identified in 2012 and the eastern necropolis that extends along either side of it. Two grave markers were uncovered north of the road, situated one in front of the other and facing towards the road itself. They marked cremation burials. The first cippus, about 40 cm high, was decorated with a Medusa’s head. The second was undecorated but larger (50 cm high). Both presented traces of a hollow on the top in which parts of the skeletal remains would have been placed (cranium). The position of the cippi and the cinerary function present analogies with the cippus from Vibia Gavia and the example without inscription found here in 2012. Three other cremation burials were uncovered around the Medusa cippus. They contained the remains of grave goods and evidence of the funerary ceremony datable to between the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 1st century B.C. A trench was opened in the necropolis area south of the gravelled road and parallel to it. Over 2 m wide, the trench had a maximum depth of just over 2.50 m. At -1.80 m, below the road’s containing wall, a phase of the necropolis with nine cremation burials (in wooden boxes, amphora, jug, and earth grave) was exposed. While in 2012 the flat-bottomed amphora (c. 1st-2nd century A.D.) was the commonest vessel used as a cinerary urn, Dressel type 2-6 amphorae (1st century A.D.) were present in the 2013 tombs. The amphorae, placed vertically, either the right way up or upside down with a hole in the bottom, served as cinerary urns, grave markers and _tubuli_ for the offerings. Lower down, an earlier cremation burial was identified, sealed by the collapse of the first phase of the road’s containing wall. The extension of the excavation to the west led to the identification of two more burials of mid imperial date, just below the plough soil. Towards the east, there were no burials in the central area of the excavation, however a series of _ustrinae_ were present. Another four tombs, the same as the preceding ones, were present further east. All but one were in the usual pottery vessels used as cinerary urns, however one was inside a tile box on top of which was an amphora neck that functioned as a libation tube. These burials were situated close to the brick-built containing wall relating to the gravel road, that was just over 9 m long. A cippus was found near the eastern end of the wall. Fifty centimeters high, it bore the inscription IN AGR/PXXX (_in agro pedes triginta_), which gives the size of the square burial plot being examined, corresponding to just under 9 m. The cippus covered the remains of a preceding base in _opus_ _caementicium_ all that was left of a demolished funerary monument. New trenches were opened along the gravel road and revealed that the road had a basalt surface once inside the urban area.

The excavations undertaken by the University of Bologna’s Department of History, Culture and Civilisation at Suasa investigated part of the southern area of the Eastern Necropolis identified in 2012. Three “a cappuccina” burials were uncovered in the westernmost part of the excavation area. They were covered with large, complete tiles, arranged along their length, the joins covered by imbrices and tile fragments, the bottom lined with large tiles placed flat. The burials were in stratigraphic succession, one cutting the other. Indeed, in the lower depositions the skeleton was reduced and placed in a corner of the tomb, probably at the moment they were cut by the next burial. A coin of Alexander Severus dated 230 A.D. was recovered. In the southernmost part of the central strip of the excavation area, two more inhumation burials were uncovered. One was an “a cappuccina” burial on a northwest-southeast alignment, the other in an earth grave without covering or lined floor. The absence of burials in the rest of the central sector of the excavation area made it possible to open a deep trench reaching about 2.50 m below present ground level, which revealed a 5 m stretch of the cobblestone wall that in this area bordered the gravel road that was uncovered in 2012. During previous campaigns, numerous burials were uncovered in the easternmost strip of the excavation area, mainly grouped in the area abutting the retaining wall of the gravel road. This season, six cremation burials were excavated, whose grave goods, constituted by a few fragmented finds, date to between the late 1st and the 2nd century A.D. Three had a marker-cinerary urn constituted by the upper part of a flat-based amphora, in a simple earth pit, and two with a more complex structure. The first used a small _dolia_ as a cinerary urn, on the rim of which were inserted a sequence of two joining _tubuli_ separated by a filter, clearly set up for the libation rituals. The end of the _tubuli_ emerged for about 10 cm above the ground surface of the necropolis. Towards the north there was a quadrangular base (c. 130 x 120 cm), with shallow foundations, which incorporated part of the upper end of the tube structure itself and may represent a simple platform that was used during the funerary ritual. The second “complex” burial produced the remains of a sandstone structure, which when reconstructed formed a sort of rough-hewn stone ring. Below it was a circular masonry foundation, with a limestone _cippus_, broken at the top, fixed at its centre. This structure covered part of the earth from the pyre that filled the pit containing the cinerary amphora, fixed vertically and with a hole in the bottom. Lastly, during this season, three stratigraphic _sondages_ were opened in the already known area of suburban building 9, revealing several sections of wall foundations, and associated robbing trenches and a layer of collapse.

La Campagna di scavo del 2016 del Dipartimento di Storia Culture Civiltà di Bologna a Suasa si è svolta tra fine giugno e fine luglio nell’area della Necropoli Orientale. Nel settore meridionale (a sud della via glareata) è stato completato lo scavo della fascia sud del lotto di 30 piedi individuato nel 2012 a partire dalla quota del basamento laterizio con tubulo per le libagioni individuato nello scorso 2015 (Tomba 572). Appena a un metro di profondità dal p.d.c. sono emerse 7 sepolture a cremazione in fosse circolari coperte da anfore con funzione di segnacolo e tubulo per offerte, disposte in fila lungo il limite sud del lotto (Tombe 573-579). Fa parzialmente eccezione una sepoltura (Tomba 575) in cassetta laterizia coperta da un bipedale piano con un foro circolare al centro. Sul margine esterno del Lotto si trova la sepoltura a inumazione di un infante, in fossa terragna coperta alla cappuccina (Tomba 580). Al di sotto di queste è stato trovato un secondo livello di altre 6 sepolture a incinerazione simili alle precedenti (Tombe 581-583, 585-587). Si segnala la perfetta sovrapposizione dell’anfora della Tomba 578 rispetto alla sottostante Tomba 583: l’anafora superiore era capovolta e l’orlo risultava perfettamente combaciante a quello dell’anfora inferiore a creare un condotto unico, forse per mettere in comunicazione tombe di famiglia. Lo scavo di questo secondo livello di sepolture ha riportato in luce, a poco meno di un metro e mezzo dal p.d.c., 2 basamenti parallelepipedi in pietra, quello orientale monolitico (cm 90 x 60, spesso cm 30) e quello occidentale composto da una serie di 3 blocchi sovrapposti di dimensioni progressivamente minori, con foro centrale per alloggio di una stele nella parte superiore. Sopra di esso è stata rinvenuta in crollo una testa femminile poco inferiore al vero, con i capelli raccolti, in calcare locale, oltre ad alcuni piccoli frammenti di epigrafe. A di sotto delle sepolture appena descritte è ne emerso un analogo terzo livello (Tombe 590, 591, 593-595, 601-603, 605, 607). In alcuni casi l’affastellarsi di sepolture attorno ai segnacoli lapidei potrebbe essere indizio di legami di famiglia. Nel settore settentrionale, a nord della strada glareata, è stato riportato in luce un grande sbancamento che parte da una quota molto alta e che potrebbe spiegare l’assenza di altre sepolture in questa zona.