Summary (English)
Along the western embankment a wall connected to the Etruscan road was identified in trench A. In cleaning the ridge, a fragmentary ziro came to light, perhaps set upside down. This would be the second example of this kind, fundamental in interpreting the Etruscan phase. In enlarging the eastern edge of the trench the backhoe uncovered a Roman wall, oriented E/W, faced with squared river stones and with a tufo cornerstone. The removal of an earthen step in trench C revealed a small curving channel that continued up to a square structure in river stones. In various points, mortar sealed the cappuccina covering. It was apparently related to the bath complex, with an apsidal basin with mortar bedding for mosaic.
The complex, with imported marble crustae, must have extended westwards. A tufo block in the southern wall of the trench led to the uncovering of another room. In trench F, the fill from two new rooms was removed, revealing one as an elongated square structure with perimeters in opus latericium and cocciopesto faced with a calcareous concretion. Two projecting parts at the center divide it in two. The barrel vault of the basin had collapsed inside. The floor consists of regular (55 × 45) tiles, the raised borders broken, set in mortar. The second room is located N of the basin/corridor. It was not contemporary with the basin complex, as indicated by the building technique and stratigraphy. A closed room exploiting the outer wall of the basin was built in the medieval period. The accumulation of stones and ceramic fragments in the surface layer included a bowl in Orvieto majolica dating to the last quarter of the fifteenth century. The material resulting from the collapse of the roof provided archaic majolica of the early 1300s, terminus ante quem for its use. The brick flooring stopped in correspondence to three shafts with 40 cm. diameter openings. The flask-shaped interiors were faced with dry tufo masonry. This space seems to have been created in late medieval times for productive purposes, a fuller’s workshop or a tannery.
- Silvia Simonetti 
Director
- David George, St. Anselm College, NH, USA
Team
- Eric Thienes
- Francesca Bellagamba
- Molly Gayton
- Serena Bramucci
- Silvia Simonetti
Research Body
- St. Anselm College, NH, USA
Funding Body
- Institute for Mediterranean Archaeology, OK, USA
- St. Anselm College, NH, USA
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