In the years 1993, 1995 and 1998 excavations were carried out in the area of the Early Christian baptistry in S. Lorenzo in Lucina by the Swedish Institute of Classical Studies in Rome in collaboration with the Archaeological Superintendency of Rome. These revealed the remains of a baptismal font of about 4m in diameter, to the side of which was a smaller, rectangular tank of unknown function. Study of the pottery from the stratified layers around the baptistry, sealed by the construction of the church, and from the 1985 excavations below the central nave, indicate the mid-IV century as a terminus post quem for the building of the basilica and its baptistry. In the year 2000 the excavation was extended to take in the entire area below the church. These indicate that the III century insula, on which the church was built, was abandoned at the beginning of the IV century. As well as providing many new elements for the riconstruction of the first phase of the Early Christian basilica, this new research may allow the dating of the basilica to the IV century, thus rendering less certain its identification (accepted by many scholars) as the "basilica sancto Laurentio" built by Pope Sixtus III (432-440) according to the Liber Pontificalis. (Olaf Brandt)