The complex known as the macellum, situated outside the west gate of the Castrum of Ostia was excavated during the years 1938-1940, with further investigations in the 1950s. Restoration during the 1940s obscure the ancient nucleus, particularly in the area of the south courtyard. New excavations have established a continuous stratigraphy which runs from the time of the castrum to the late antique period. The earliest structures, in opus quadratum, date to the 3rd century B.C. From the late Republican period onwards there was a series of various types of building on the site (tabernae, houses, porticos). Towards the end of the 1st century A.D. the area was divided into an insula (north) and a courtyard (south). Calza's proposed identification of this site with the macellum, based on rather weak epigraphic and typological evidence, is to be excluded. After various alterations, part of the insula was occupied by a glass workshop, the kiln of which has come to light (the first at Ostia), dating to the second half of the 5th century A.D. The finds included numerous fragments of painted wall plaster of the early Pompeian IV style, that came from the demolition rubble of several houses which had been used to fill a cellar. (Valentin Kockel).