This was the second season of excavations in the locality of Ronchetrin at Gazzo Veronese. A 60 x 4 m trench was opened with the aim of gaining further data about the line, construction techniques and dating of the Roman road that ran from Hostilia to Verona (commonly known as the “via Claudia Augusta Padana”), first excavated in 2014. A comparison between the two sets of excavation data showed that the road in this territory characterised by a valley, did not run in a straight line, but was formed by segments that were slightly out of axis with each other, in order to follow the lower parts of the hills that emerged from the landscape. The upper parts of these hills, drier and safer, were probably reserved for settlements or agriculture, while the road was built in these marginal sectors, that were however dry. The road ran on an embankment built with sands from the natural substrata, its summit covered with cobbles. The materials came from the excavation of the only lateral ditch, opened on the side next to the rise, and therefore varyingly situated to the east or west of the road according to the position of the higher parts of the terrain. There was no need for a ditch on the other side of the road, towards the valley as the latter was swamped or furrowed by seasonal watercourses. A funerary area with cremation burials was exposed in the sands in direct contact with the side of the road ditch. This season, 2 earth graves, 9 “a cassetta” tombs built of imbrices (one of which had three imbrices bearing the stamp _Veciliai_ _Liberalis_), a burial in a cut amphora, and one possibly in a wooden box, were excavated. In 2014, a tomb made of tile and one made of cut amphora were identified, together with a fragmented stone funerary monument, found a few hundred metres to the north. The tombs were in varying states of preservation depending on their depth in relation to the surface of the mound, which rose in height towards the north and east. The tombs situated further north were destroyed down to the base; those to the south were better-preserved, also because they were partially covered by the peat that formed in the area when the road system went out of use: the covering tiles were still in place on two. Agricultural activity had also badly damaged the ground surface of the necropolis and the excavation did not find any grave markers. The tombs were positioned in untidy rows parallel to the ditch, following the line of the mound and on different orientations. No ossuaries were found in the graves: in most cases, the earth from the pyre was placed outside the tomb, but small concentrations of burnt bone, charcoal and ash were found inside, perhaps originally held in sacks made of perishable material. All of the earth from the pyres was collected from each grave for osteological analysis of the burnt bone and paleobotanical/archeozoological analyses of the vegetal/animal remains. The grave goods, mainly _olpai_, pouring vessels, _balsamaria_ (some deformed by heat), lamps, and coins were well-preserved and date to between the late 1st and the early 2nd centuries A.D. Chemical analyses are being carried out to define the vessel contents.

This was the third excavation campaign in the locality of Ronchetrin at Gazzo Veronese. A 17 x 5 m trench was opened in order to further investigate the necropolis situated along the Roman road known as the “via Claudia Augusta Padana”, uncovered in 2015. A further 14 cremation burials were excavated in the sands forming the hump on the side of the road’s lateral ditch (13 were identified in 2015 and 2 in 2014). Their state of preservation was very different due to the diversity of depth in relation to the surface of the hump (that got higher towards the south) and therefore had suffered different levels plough damage. The tombs situated further south were destroyed down to the base; those to the north were better preserved, also because they were partially covered by the turf that formed in the area after the road system went out of use. As in 2015, the tombs, of various types, were positioned in two untidy rows parallel to the ditch, on different alignments (and in one case at a different depth). In most cases, the tombs were indirect cremations, but at least two seemed direct cremations. Most were “cassette” made of imbrices (in one case sesquipedales), which in turn – in at least two cases – could have contained a wooden box. One tomb perhaps contained a round container made of wickerwork or something similar, which had perished over time. Two burials were dug directly in the ground, two presented neither earth from the pyre, burnt bone, or grave goods suggesting it may have been robbed in antiquity. The last contained only burnt bones without the burnt soil or grave goods, but the presence of a possible _bustum_ nearby suggests this was a single funerary context. In only three cases was the covering identified, constituted by an _imbrex_ or _sesquipedales_. Due to the impact of agricultural work, which had heavily cut the necropolis ground surface, no grave markers were found. In all cases, the soil from the pyre was placed outside the “cassetta”, always within the quadrangular pit dug to contain the burial. In one case, the soil was placed on either side of the “cassetta”, suggesting a double cremation. In some burials, there were small concentrations of burnt bones on top of the bottom imbrex, perhaps once contained in small bags made of perishable material. The burnt soil was collected from each burial for the oseteological analyses of the bones and palaeobotanical/archaeozoological analyses of the plant/animal remains. The grave goods were very well-preserved and datable to between the late 1st century – early 2nd century A.D. The tomb groups were mainly constituted by olpai, pouring vessels, balsamari, some deformed by the heat, glass cups, lamps, and coins. Also present were two bronze fibulae, a pair of gold earrings, a small iron knife, perhaps a spindle whirl and a small bronze spatula. Chemical analyses are being carried out on the intact ceramic and glass vessels in an attempt to define their content.

This was the fourth excavation campaign in the locality of Ronchetrin at Gazzo Veronese. The areas opened in 2015-2016 were extended to the south (25 x 5 m) and the north (20 x 10 m) in order to obtain further data from the necropolis situated along the via Claudia Augusta (uncovered in 2014-2015). On the edge of the road’s lateral ditch, thirty more cremation burials were identified (in containers made of tiles or sawn amphora placed in pits). Thirty burials were excavated in 2015-2016. The new burials also had well-preserved grave goods, despite the damage caused by agricultural activity, and are datable to between the late 1st century B.C. and the early 2nd century A.D. This season’s excavations resulted in the following: 1. the identification of the southern edge of the necropolis, where the tombs were arranged in a single row and then widened to the north forming first two parallel rows (as already seen in 2015-2016), and then four –five rows that became irregular; 2. the discovery of two inhumation burials: one was an infant burial inside two imbrices, the other bordered by vertically placed tiles, probably of an 8-11 year old child. Both burials were at a greater depth than the cremations. However, the typology of the grave goods showed that they did not belong to a different chronological phase of the necropolis, but represent a different choice of funerary ritual, probably within the same family nucleus; 3. the identification, immediately south of the southern edge of the necropolis, of a “U” shaped accumulation of bricks, part of the parapets of a walkway/small timber bridge built above the lateral channel running along the road to link the road itself with the necropolis and adjacent terrain. That this structure was built at the same time as the road is shown by the fact that at this point the channel is narrower in order to make the crossing easier. The presence of this small bridge in phase with the _via_ _publica_ suggests that it led to a private road (all traces of which have been destroyed by agricultural activity) leading to a rural settlement, which the necropolis situated on the edges of the property along the road, was also a part of. In order to verify this proposal, it will be necessary in coming campaigns to check how far the tombs extend to the north where they already appear to be present in the field north of the excavation area covering an area of at least another 1000 m2.

This was the fifth campaign of excavations in the territory of Gazzo V.se – locality of Ronchetrin as part of the GaVe Project (Indagini archeologiche a Gazzo Veronese – Verona). New trenches were opened and those opened in 2014 and 2017 were extended with the aim of defining the extension and dating of the funerary areas situated along both sides of the _via_ _Claudia_ _Augusta_, identified during part campaigns. This year work took place on the private field that was investigated between 2015-2017 and the one immediately to the east (three trenches were opened which showed the continuation of the eastern funerary area to the north and confirmed its southern edge). In the field north of the latter six trenches were opened that made it possible to define the extension of the eastern necropolis and the edges, apart from the north one, of the western necropolis. These were a series of perpendicular transects, which in two cases intersected the road, further clarifying its line and the extension of the lateral ditch. A mechanical digger was used to remove the agricultural soil down to the sands of the rise beyond the lateral ditch of the Roman road, cut by agricultural activity. The removal of the agricultural level immediately revealed the presence of numerous cremation burials, 22 of which were chosen for excavation. In emptying the burials the position of the grave goods and bones was carefully documented and the earth from the pyre collected (distinguished according to its position with respect to the burial). Bones and vegetal remains were recovered from the floatation of this soil for palaeo-botanical and osteological analyses. The 2018 excavations revealed 151 funerary contexts in the eastern necropolis, some of uncertain ritual as it was impossible to excavate all burials. Of those that were recognisable 76 were in graves, 21 in tile coffins (one in brick), two single box tombs made of imbrices, 12 box tombs with double imbrices or _a cappuccina_, including one with imbrices on both short sides and a libation tube, and another with half an amphora on one of the short sides. The density of the burials was similar to that documented in previous years (c. 1 tomb every 3.5 m2. Here, the burials were also parallel to the road – which therefore provided a focal point in the rural landscape for use as a funerary area – up to a maximum of c. 16 rows documented in the northernmost sector, where the entire extension of the cemetery from east to west has been uncovered, over a length of 35 metres. Taking into consideration the data from the preceding campaigns, it was possible to determine the overall extension of this eastern funerary area (c. 4000 m2) and to suggest, based on the density of the burials in the 2015-2018 excavation data applied to the entire area, the presence of c. 1000 funerary contexts, according to a calculation that is however necessarily approximative. The arrangement of the burials does not seem to reveal groups that are well-defined and separated by pedestrian access to the various spaces in the necropolis. However, the partial nature of the investigated area together with the absence of the ground surfaces of the period do not make it possible to go any further with this interpretation. The finds study confirmed an overall dating of the 1st century A.D. for the burials, with a few cases just slightly earlier (between the late 1st century B.C. and the first half of the 1st century A.D.) and some later examples dating to the 1st-2nd century A.D. As regards the western necropolis, already investigated in 2014 and 2017, its perimeters were identified/confirmed except for the northern one. The southern edge was situated in correspondence with the burial in a sawn amphora already identified in 2014, to the west it was just a few metres from the edge of the road’s lateral ditch. Therefore, this necropolis was much smaller than the eastern one, with a lower density and characterised by a single row of burials aligned along the road. Overall, considering the excavations in previous years, 5 burials were in graves, 2 in tile cassette and 2 in sawn amphora. These burials also seem to date generically to the 1st century A.D., more probably to between the late 1st century B.C. and the first half of the 1st century A.D., however the finds study is still in progress. In short, in addition to the already-known layout of the road, which follows an irregular line in order to make use of the sandy humps, thanks to the 2018 excavations the characteristics of the two funerary areas and the two ditches flanking the road were defined. The eastern ditch was a maximum of 13 m wide, where the road crossed the low land, and gradually narrowed as it continued towards the south-east until it became only 1.70 m wide and 0.75 m deep, which is coherent with the minor need for drainage due to the road’s higher position. The most unusual and interesting evidence is substantially homogeneous chronology of such a large number of burials, the suggested number is about 1000, within the space of just over one century. Such a quantity of burial contexts together with those identified during the years of surface survey along the road and about thirty funerary monuments reused in the territory’s churches, means thought should be given to the settlement organisation at Gazzo Veronese and the possibility that a _vicus_ existed here.