During a one week season in 2015, the so-called comitium and eastern porticus of the Forum of Pompeii were geophysically surveyed using georadar. The survey of the porticus, parts of which have been excavated in the past, primarily served as a means to critically assess the method employed. It clearly showed that even substantial structures can show up as only weak definitions within a georadar plot due to various factors, such as the building materials employed or modern building or infrastructure measures. In view of this dataset, the clearly visible archaeological features beneath the so-called comitium, which has never been excavated, are all the more remarkable. They provide first insights into earlier Republican structures at the site that can be interpreted as the remains of tabernae orientated towards the Via dell’Abbondanza and outer walls of connected houses and alleys. These were incorporated into the ‚comitium’ at the time of its construction. The available space in the building plot, however, makes it unlikely that a full domus existed here. Of particular interest is the apparent orientation of the early taberna-walls towards the pillars in the north wall of the so-called comitium. These may therefore have caused the peculiar structure of this wall, which has not been fully understood to date.

Nel periodo compreso tra il 22 agosto e il 09 settembre 2017 l’Università di Tübingen ha condotto una campagna di documentazione e scavo nel cd. _Comitium_ di Pompei. In una prima fase di lavoro sul campo si è provveduto alla completa ripulitura della metà settentrionale, con la rimozione di uno strato di riporto superficiale, che si era accumulato dai tempi dello scavo dell’edificio avvenuto all’incirca tra il 1814 e il 1819 ad oggi. In una seconda fase sono stati eseguiti quattro saggi di scavo, nell’intento di rispondere ad alcune domande di fondo relative alla ricostruzione, all’utilizzo e alla cronologia dell’edificio, nonché finalizzati all’individuazione di strutture preesistenti. Il rilievo del cd. _Comitium_ e degli edifici confinanti è stato realizzato attraverso il metodo structure-from-motion e il laser scan 3D. Ciò è stato condotto in cooperazione con il centro Escience dell’Universität Tübingen sotto la direzione del Dott. Matthias Lang. La ripulitura ha permesso di riportare alla luce i resti della preparazione pavimentale e anche resti delle lastre pavimentali e del rivestimento delle pareti. In tutti e quattro i saggi è stato trovato materiale ceramico sufficiente a datare l’edificio. Contrariamente alla _communis opinio_, secondo cui il cd. _Comitium_ risalirebbe nella sua prima fase ad età sillana, lo spettro dei materiali rinvenuti rimanda in modo molto unitario ad età augustea.

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.