In 2005 and 2006 the University of Perugia continued its excavations in the Regio VI Insula 2 as part of the inter-university project “The First Centuries of Pompeii”. The excavations concentrated on several rooms of the domus VI 2, 14 and VI2, 16-21, where the levels reached provide evidence of the layout of buildings of the 3rd and mid 2nd centuries B.C., and on the House of Sallustius (VI 2, 2-4) in collaboration with Prof. A. Laidlaw. The chronology of the building of the domus, of late Samnite date, confirms that occupation of the lots in insula 2 was a gradual process, some lots being left vacant and was only completed during the course of the 2nd century B.C.
Two trenches dug along Via della Fullonica (between insulae 5 and 7 of Regio VI), provided evidence for the street’s earliest phases which date to the mid 3rd century B.C. and its relationship with the original dwellings.
A new area of interest is the Regio VII insula 15, where the houses investigated (VII 15, 1-2; VII 15, 3; VII 15, 6; VII 15, 8) provided the data for the development of a diachronic model of the occupation of the entire town.
Trenches put in by the taberna VII 7, 12 near the House of Romulus and Remus and along the Via dei Soprastanti, in correspondence with the pavement of domus VII 16, 12-14 provided important information regarding the earliest city walls.
Finally, excavations on the pavement in front of domus IX 8,8 and IX 9 (e), in correspondence with the niches on the façade, provided documentation regarding aspects of private religiosity in the context of the layout of the houses.
The project is financed by the Ministry of Education and Scientific Research as part of the programme “Research Projects of National Interest” (PRIN) for the periods 2004-2006 and 2006-2008. (Filippo Coarelli)