This was the second campaign of excavations undertaken by the Universities of Tübingen and Kiel on the so-called Comitium of Pompeii. The intervention is based on the promising results of a geophysical survey carried out in 2015 in the area of so-called building 2. This was a two-year project: in 2017, the northern half of the building was investigated, and in 2018, the work continued with the southern half.

During the first phase of fieldwork, the southern half was completely cleaned with the removal of the surface layer of dumped material (up to 50 cm deep), that has accumulated from the time of the excavation of the building that took place between about 1814-1819 and today. In a second phase, trenches 1 and 3 (from last year) were reopened and enlarged. A new trench, 5, was opened in the portico in front of the comitium, with the aim of answering some of the fundamental questions relating to the reconstruction, use and chronology of the building, and identifying any pre-existing structures.

The survey of the so-called Comitium was made using the structure-from-motion method and 3D laser scanner.

The 2018 cleaning uncovered the remains of the floor make-up, floor slabs and wall revetment. In all trenches, enough pottery was found to date the building. Contrary to the widely held belief that the so-called Comitium dates to the first phase of the Sullan period, the material finds date to the Augustan period. The proposed new chronology for the building opens new interesting perspectives on the development of the south side of the forum. The so-called Comitium was not part of the late Samnite or Sullan monumentalisation of the forum, which primarily included the construction of the basilica and portico in tufa, but rather of the extension of the piazza towards the south in the Augustan period.