Area II

In the northern sector of Area II of the excavation investigations looked at the part of the sanctuary on the Velian hill which lies within the excavation area (see 2007-2009). The fill of the eastern bothros, a parallelepiped comprising eight courses of cappellaccio blocks with a small square panel at the centre, was completely removed. A careful examination of the structure showed that the two upper courses had been dismantled and then rebuilt, respectively in the first half and second half of the 5th century B.C., on a base of six courses built at the end of the 6th-beginning of the 5th century B.C. the votive deposits contained within the structure are contemporary with the life and rebuilds, but also contained earlier ex voto, which date the beginning of cult activity in this area to the middle or second half of the 8th century B.C. The shrine rests on a crown of cappellaccio slabs, on which an altar may have stood.

In the central sector excavations took place to the south of a cappellaccio wall, identified in 2007, marking the border, from the end of the 6th-beginning of the 5th century B.C., between the sanctuary on the southern slopes of the Velian hill and the valley-forum road. Here, the excavation of the late Republican stratigraphy relating to the construction of the wall and of the archaic layers predating the building of this structure was completed.

Extension

In this area the intervention largely involved the removal of the terrain covering the great ditch of 1600, whose excavation stopped, along the east and west front of the excavation area, at the height of the levels of late antique and medieval collapse and abandonment already reached in Area III and in Rooms 1-4 of the Neronian/Flavian terrace (Area II). This intervention provided useful data for the reconstruction of the underground rooms of this structure. At the centre of the sector, where the ditch continued to descend, the remains of walls in opus vittatum appeared. These were difficult to interpret due to the poor state of preservation. A wall in opus latericius, dating to the 6th-7th century A.D. and already partially uncovered during previous campaigns, was interpreted as a dividing wall in a large building which reoccupied the Neronia/Flavian platea in this period.

Area III

In the north-eastern sector of this area a mosaic floor and its make up, dating to the Severan period, was identified below the medieval abandonment layers.

Area IV (“Baths of Elagabalus”)

In area IV, the so-called Baths of Elagabalus, excavations were carried out in Rooms 6-10 and in courtyard 15. More rooms belonging to the late Republican domus below the imperial complexes were identified. Important evidence regarding the imperial (Hadrianic and Severan horrea ) and late antique remains was documented. The finds in the courtyard area (pools, flowerbeds, fountains, pathways) were of great interest as they showed the new use of the building from the 4th century onwards ( collegium, schola?). The excavations were then extended to the westernmost rooms of the complex behind the apse of the nymphaeum/fountain (or stibadium), where a vast bath complex (end of the 4th century?) was discovered. The discovery of a number of burials in amphorae dating to the end of the 6th-7th century concluded this campaign.