Investigations of the western monumental area of the Roman and late antique city began in 2001. In particular these involved the sector crossed by the via Traiana and occupied by the large trapezoidal -shaped square that was partially excavated in 1912-1913. From 2005 onwards work began on the area of the Episcopal basilica, in particular the south nave. Ceramic evidence showed that the area of the square (trench 1) was occupied in the late Bronze Age. Construction of the square itself began in the mid Hellenistic period (2nd century B.C.) and it was monumentalised in the Trajan period, as attested by the ceramics and a coin of the Emperor Trajan (found in 2005), sealed in the make up of the square’s paving. It is possible to attribute to the same period the Doric portico and the Ionic _propylaeum_, found on the west side of the square, paved with large squared blocks of limestone and equipped with a drainage system. The channels were found which collected the drained water into a large cistern. This was faced with waterproof plaster, had two openings from which to draw off water and there was a third well with cut footholds providing access from above for maintenance purposes. From the second half of the 4th century A.D. the spatial organisation was renewed: inside and outside of the portico small rooms were built with reused material recovered from the area itself. These rooms were linked to the activities taking place in the nearby port and were used for the storage and sale of wares from Africa and the East. North of the via Traiana rooms with _opus signinum_ floors were built; to the south a monumental fountain was created, datable to the 2nd century A.D., which remained in use until the 5th century A.D. In the same area rooms with painted plaster decorated with geometric and floral motives were built. Around the 4th century A.D. the area south of the road underwent a process of reorganisation when a substantial paving was laid, perhaps in order to widen the road. To the south a residential and production area was laid out, connected to the two kilns investigated during the 2004 and 3005 excavation campaigns. One produced table wares, the other kitchen wares and both were still functioning at the beginning of the 7th century A.D. A side street off the via Traiana, east of the productive structures, provided access both to the space housing the kilns and to other rooms whose commercial and productive use is attested by the materials found: fragments of African and eastern amphorae and large containers for storing dry goods. Between the end of the 6th and the beginning of the 7th century A.D., as attested by the materials found in the collapse of the structures, a vast fire destroyed the area linked to the via Traiana in this sector. This context produced a gold coin from the mint at Constantinople issued by the Emperor Justinian (527-565 A.D.) and found in a room to the north, whilst to the south a gold ring dating to between the 6th-beginning of the 7th century was found. In a later period that cannot be specified, a roadbed was laid over the via Traiana to create a drainage system. In 2005 and 2006 the area of the Episcopal basilica was excavated, in particular the south nave. This revealed the long chronology of the occupation phases in this part of the city which predated the church’s construction. This runs from the Messapian period (to which a funerary area can be ascribed, above which a series of rooms whose plan cannot be defined were built in the 2nd century B.C.) to the late antique period (in the 2nd century A.D. a fullonica was built). A phase of destruction datable to the 4th century A.D. was followed by the final restructuring of the area, with rooms of uncertain use: they were decorated with a mosaic floor and painted wall plaster. Based on the stratigraphic and numismatic evidence, in particular a coin of the Emperor Leo (457-474)), the construction of the Episcopal basilica dates to around the second half of the 5th century A.D. In 2006 research was continued in the area north of the via Traiana. It was revealed that in the late Republican period the area of the future monumental square was occupied by a beaten earth surface, overlaid by a pavement of limestone slabs which, in the Imperial period, was cut to make way for a conduit for the drainage and collection of water. At the northern end of the conduit was a structure that was perhaps part of the system for shutting the cistern and for water collection. The cistern seemed connected to that situated further south in the central sector of the western portico. In the south portico there was evidence of the re-arrangement of the area in the Trajanic period, with a pavement which in part seemed to follow that of late Republican date, and at the same time appeared linked to other structures uncovered near the square’s southern cistern. During the mid Imperial period the entrance to the square was rebuilt. Analysis of the finds provides a date of the 2nd-3rd A.D. for the use of this floor level which went out of use in the 4th century A.D. The investigation in the urban area south of the via Traiana has led to a better understanding of the late antique productive quarter, in particular the area of the kilns facing onto the side road off the via Traiana and to a closer examination of the zone south of the via Traiana and the monumental fountain.

The investigations undertaken in 2007 as part of the ‘Progetto Egnazia: dallo scavo alla valorizzazione’ confirmed the settlement history of the productive sector south of the via Traiana. Here, research concentrated on a room south of the road and in the area south of the kilns excavated during the 2005-2006 campaigns. A complex stratigraphic sequence was revealed in the first sector. The sequence runs from the mid Republican period, attested by the beaten earth floor and a system of drainage channels, through numerous rebuilds and changes in use, to the 6th-7th century A.D., when the structure collapsed and the area was definitively abandoned. In the area south of the kilns a clay-earth beaten floor was uncovered. Some parts of it had been repaired with mortar and it showed extensive traces of burning attributable to the earliest kiln activity in the first decades of the 6th century. Following the collapse of these structures, probably caused by a fire, new beaten earth-clay floors were laid over the collapses. These floors were finally obliterated between the end of the 6th century and beginning of the 7th century. Investigation of the north nave, presbytery and apse areas of the Episcopal basilica further clarified the occupation history in this area of the town before the construction of the Early Christian basilica in the second half of the 4th century A.D. In fact, here a large structure with a craft working function, probably a _fullonica_ was built on top of a massive dump which between the end of the 3rd-beginning of the 2nd century B.C. obliterated the Messapian necropolis. The building was delimited to the west by a branch off of the _via Minucia/Traiana_ and to the east by a parallel side street. It was later reduced in size following the construction of the first basilica. Subsequent to the collapse of the structures, datable to the end of the 1st century B.C., there is a gap in the phases and settlement relating to the Imperial period, at least until the 4th century A.D. when the earliest cult building was constructed. The successive mid 5th century basilica had longer naves and was paved with polychrome mosaics. The excavation campaign of 2007 began investigation of the area to the south-east of the civil basilica, with visible ancient walls which antiquarian tradition usually associates with _thermae_. Five rooms of the bath complex were identified, some of quadrangular plan, others of various layouts. The rooms on the eastern front were examined in detail, they belonged to the heated sector and can be identified as the _caldarium_ and _laconium_. All structures presented a complex sequence of building interventions, sign of continuous and incisive alterations for the maintenance of the monument. The baths certainly went out of function at the end of the 4th century A.D. and were converted for use in craft-working activity until their final abandonment, which is datable to the end of the 6th century A.D.

The excavation was undertaken as part of the ‘Progetto Egnazia: dallo scavo alla valorizzazione’, begun in 2001 by the Department of ‘Scienze dell’Antichità’ at Bari University. The investigation of three crucial sectors of the Adriatic town highlighted the long occupation from the prehistoric to early medieval period and the town’s important role as a bridgehead between East and West. In the western area of the town a porticoed square was examined, built in the Hellenistic period and monumentalised under Trajan. A residential quarter south of the urban stretch of the _via Traiana_ was also investigated. Workshops for brick production and the dying of cloth were built in the central sector of the town at the beginning of the 1st century B.C., overlying the Messapian necropolis. The late antique reorganisation, in the area of the square which was obliterated by an expanse of beaten earth, saw the creation of a commercial area with spaces for the storage and distribution of dry foodstuffs. To the south of the _via Traiana_ a workshop area was set up with two kilns for the production of cooking ware and painted ware pottery. The kilns were still active at the end of the 6th century A.D. In the mid 4th century A.D. the late Republican productive structures were obliterated by the Episcopal basilica. At this time the baths excavated in the eastern part of the town were still in use, they were finally abandoned at the beginning of the 7th century A.D. The same settlement pattern was registered for the late antique period on the so-called acropolis, where research begun in the area of the Italic temple demonstrated the creation of warehouse spaces which remained in use at least until the 7th century A.D.

The 2009 excavations undertaken as part of the ‘Progetto Egnazia: dallo scavo alla valorizzazione’ demonstrated that the public baths situated in the eastern sector of the town, in the monumental nucleus probably linked to the forum, were used until the end of the 4th century A.D. and were later converted to house a well structured craft working installation. The workshop produced the building materials for which there was great request from the numerous building sites active in the town. This was a period of intense rebuilding favoured and conditioned by the ecclesiastical authorities. To this end a brick kiln and two limekilns were built in the rooms of the ancient balneum. The latter were also used to dispose of architectural materials from the baths themselves as well as basoli from the via Traiana, by then out of use and covered by a roadbed that followed its line. The zone between the baths and the civil basilica also seemed to have been used for craft working, and was thus even closer to the presumed forum area. In the space of a monumental Imperial structure, probably a portico, this period saw the creation of a workshop for metalworking, in particular the production of nails, many of which, including unfinished examples, were recovered. At a short distance immediately south of the basilica another lime making structure was also active from the end of the 4th century A.D. onwards. This was characterised by a particularly large lime-kiln (diam. 4.80 m) and provided for the building requirements of a church that was continually enlarged until the 6th century A.D. In the area of the so-called ‘acropolis’ research concentrated on the temple and in particular on a number of sectors excluded from the 1966 excavations. New data was gained regarding the architecture and chronology to which structures and materials, known from previous investigations and to date only partially studied, can now be linked. Two walled structures belonged to the earliest building phase but only visible at intervals due to later transformations. The material recovered was of votive and ritual nature dating to the Messapian period, in particular the 5th century B.C. The construction of a quadrangular structure dates to between the end of the 2nd and the 1st century B.C. Numerous architectural fragments from the earlier excavation can be attributed to this building. In correspondence with the front of the structure, on the same axis as the entrance, a mass of animal bones relating to an ox, a pig and a sheep were found inside a purposely made cavity. The bones were in association with pottery also datable to between the end of the 2nd and the first half of the 1st century B.C. On the basis of numerous documented examples, this find suggests a ritual sacrifice in connection with the foundation of this second temple. In a subsequent phase of monumentalisation, for which the chronology will be clarified by the continuation of excavations, a new and larger structure was built on a _podium_. This temple was entered via a wide staircase flanked by two foreparts, on which there may have been statues, and was fronted by an altar of which traces of the foundations and robbing remain. During the last excavation campaign the extreme north-eastern sector of the town, situated immediately inside the city walls, was investigated for the first time. The area was not very urbanised in Roman and late antique times as it was destined for the exploitation of water resources via pools fed by the water-table and wells, structures which were able to compensate for the lack of an aqueduct. This water supply also appeared to be connected to the nearby monumental sector, in particular the baths, standing only 300 m away.

The investigations undertaken in 2010 as part of the ‘Progetto Egnazia: dallo scavo alla valorizzazione’ demonstrated that the positioning of the baths on the _via Traiana_, at the edge of what was probably the forum area, dates to the 3rd century A.D. Their construction obliterated an earlier building probably of early imperial date, parts of which, such as a large cistern, have been investigated. On the opposite side with respect to the road, the complex joins to a nucleus of rooms rebuilt in the 3rd century and symmetrically arranged around a central, Doric peristyle. This building, connected to the _balineum_ structures, was not used for bathing activities. For the moment, it seems rather to have been used for commercial activities, judging from its layout, position with respect to the adjacent forum area and from the pottery found in the occupation layers, among which imported vessels, both for transport and table-wares, were clearly predominant over course wares. The reorganisation of the entire section, occurring in the 5th century and caused by the construction of a vast installation for the production of building materials, was further documented by the identification of the spaces connected with the activity of the previously investigated lime kilns, built following the icnographical layout adopted in the entire area. Each space seemed to have a specific function in the production line; in particular, water supply, cutting of blocks to be put in the lime kiln, the working of the clay probably used to insulate the kilns before the beginning of a new firing cycle. On the southern edge of the workshop complex there was evidence for a commercial activity involving the grinding up of both pottery and brick/tile fragments and shells, in other spaces in the workshop, to be used in the preparation of _opus signinum_. In the area of the so-called ‘acropolis’, the enlargement of the excavation outside the temple brought to light further evidence regarding the building of imperial date, built on a podium and entered via a staircase with foreparts on its front. In fact, the aedes resulted as being inserted into a large porticoed enclosure, characterised by two quadrangular niches in correspondence with the temple’s long sides. This follows the model consolidated in the imperial period with the first attestations in Rome dating to the Flavian period, and then spreading in Italy and the provinces. Beginning in the second half of the 4th century, this complex – like the baths and the porticoed piazza south of the ‘acropolis’ – saw a radical change in function, with the construction of rooms occupying the portico spaces which were used as storage facilities for the nearby port. Trade was flanked by production activities, in this case once again linked to lime making. The large kiln used for this purpose was partially excavated (maximum measurement 5 m) and still preserved its last load. This included material dating its abandonment to between the end of the 4th-beginning of the 5th century. In the western area of the portico the excavation revealed, for the first time, the organisation of the medieval settlement connected with the fortification of the ‘acropolis’. This had only been partially documented previously during the first excavations in this area undertaken in the 1960s. In the inner space of the porticoed enclosure the rooms in this period overlay those of late antique date, using stone foundations bonded with a large amount of earth and walls made of unbaked clay and timber. The finds consisted mainly of glazed and banded painted pottery and lamps with ogival mouth – as seen during previous campaigns – which, together with the mainly Byzantine coin finds, date the final occupation of the area to the 11th century.

The research undertaken in 2011, as part of the ‘Progetto Egnazia’ showed that the baths, mainly known for the 3rd century A.D. construction phase, were built in the Augustan period in an area formerly used for metalworking activities in the late Republican period. From their origin, the baths were closely linked with the forum area, the latter also laid out at the beginning of the principate, together with the buildings, such as the basilica, forming its monumental nucleus. The topographical and functional link between the baths and forum was reinforced by the important urban planning intervention connected with the building of the _via Traiana_. The new stretch of road, investigated for 25 m, was adapted to the layout of the _balineum_ – also restructured at the time of the road’s construction – and forked to consent access to the apodyterium, to then continue towards the forum. This stretch of the _via Traiana_, which reached the forum, is at present the only section that does not have an _orbitae tensarum_, as it was reserved for pedestrian use. Along the main part of the road, the earliest pair of cart tracks was later replaced by another pair in a slightly different position, due to wear caused by the heavy volume of cart traffic in the proximity of the main public urban space. From their construction, the baths were also linked to the adjacent building, already partially exposed on the opposite side from the road. In the 2nd century A.D., and therefore in concomitance with work on the road, this building was organised as a series of rooms arranged around a peristyle and provided with an articulated water supply and drainage system. This was probably a public building, a meeting place, directly connected to the _balineum_ and linked to the forum. As regards the best-known phase, the 3rd century A.D. restructuring, the heating system for the baths was seen to be well-preserved. In particular, the _caldarium_ hypocaust was paved with brick tiles and supported on a dense system of _suspensurae_, small pillars of calcarenite, in the central zone, and tile pilae with circular and quadrangular sections, at the sides. The height of these supports, the depth of the hypocaust, the thickness and technical characteristics of the marble slab floor show the application of the highest building standards of the Roman period as attested by the archaeological evidence, as well by the literary sources in particular _Vitruvius_, who lived during the period of the baths’ construction. On the ‘acropolis’ the excavation clarified the layout of the sacred area in the imperial period. The porticoed temple enclosure was documented further, characterised by two quadrangular niches on the long sides and a back wall in _opus quadratum_ built of large blocks. Very little remained of the portico’s stone paving – similar to that preserved at the front of the temple – most of it had probably been removed in the late antique period during a general reorganisation of the area. For this period, the extension of the excavation to the western sector of the portico clarified the changes in the function of the complex. By this time, it was no longer a sacred area but was mainly destined for production activities and storage, relating to the fortifications dating to the second half of the 6th century A.D., whose bastion cut into the edge of the ancient cult area.

This season’s research, part of the ‘Progetto Egnazia: dallo scavo alla valorizzazione’, exposed more of the buildings preexisting the baths built in the Augustan period on the south side of the forum. In particular, a room with structures for the treatment of textiles was excavated. This was probably a _fullonica_ in use throughout the 1st century B.C. It was restructured, although its function remained unchanged, probably at the time of the construction of the _balneum_. The baths’ vestibule was situated to the side of this workshop, attesting the fact that the baths were built in an urban area that was already densely occupied, as part of the incisive urban planning intervention in the Augustan period, which organized the forum’s monumental nucleus. The building next to the baths on the opposite side of the road was more clearly exposed. From the early imperial period, it was divided into a series of rooms arranged around a peristyle with an extensive water supply system. During the life of the _balneum_, until the end of the 4th century A.D., the _fullonica_ formed a unitary complex with the baths and was also touched by the restructuring carried out on the baths, especially in the 2nd century, in correspondence with work on the _via Traiana_, and again in the 3rd century. A building, hitherto unknown, was also discovered on the south side of the forum, but further east with respect to the baths. Architecturally of very high standard, the evidence to date suggests it was in use during the late Republican and early imperial periods, and did not seem affected by the changes in function involving many sectors of the town from the end of the 4th century. It was characterised by a large central area closed by a rectangular exedra and surrounded by modular rooms in a symmetrical arrangement. So far, the plan suggests this structure was directly linked to the forum’s commercial activities. One of the rooms was on a higher level, accessible via a ramp and was used for the storage of wine amphorae. Importance evidence for the imperial period was uncovered in the acropolis sanctuary that had been in use since the 6th century B.C. In this period, a four-sided porticoed enclosure, with a large quadrangular exedra at the centre of each of the long sides, was built around the temple. The open areas between the temple and the porticoes had beaten earth floors in this phase, which the pottery and coin finds date to the first half of the 2nd century A.D. Therefore, this religious complex was among the sectors of the town redeveloped as part of the extensive building intervention in the Trajanic period, involving the baths, the porticoed market square, and the residential sector opposite the square south of the _via Traiana_. From the mid 4th century A.D., at the time when the sacred area went out of use, quadrangular rooms used for residential and productive purposes were built abutting the sanctuary’s closing walls. The open area gradually lost its original function and it was used burials, found abutting the podium’s lower cornice. Around the mid 6th century A.D., when the acropolis was fortified, the Byzantine curtain walls and the _castrum_ were constructed making ample use of materials taken from the dismantled sanctuary. The latest excavations identified the innermost tower of the _castrum_ on the acropolis. Quadrangular in plan it was partially scarped in order to provide better defence, and incorporated the south-western corner of the imperial portico.

Le ricerche sul campo del ‘Progetto Egnazia: dallo scavo alla valorizzazione’ nel 2013 si sono concentrate in un’ampia fascia che definisce il comparto del foro sul lato meridionale, nella quale ricadono anche le terme e l’edificio con peristilio centrale connesso al _balneum_, indagati con sistematicità negli ultimi anni. Nell’impianto termale, al termine del restauro del _praefurnium_, che si conserva integralmente fino alla copertura, è stato possibile indagare lo spazio di servizio in cui il dispositivo rientra ed è stato individuato un altro _praefurnium_ più piccolo: mentre il dispositivo maggiore alimentava direttamente l’ _alveus_ del _caldarium_ e provvedeva al riscaldamento degli altri vani, l’altro _praefurnium_ era collegato alla vasca minore del _caldarium_, con la funzione di supporto termico assegnata pure ad un terzo dispositivo, strutturato in maniera più semplice, che viene affiancato all’ipocausto del _tepidarium_ nell’ambito della ristrutturazione del III secolo. A Est delle terme, è stato approfondito lo scavo dell’edificio di elevato tenore architettonico individuato nel 2012, articolato intorno ad un’ampia corte centrale, chiusa da un’esedra rettangolare e circondata da vani modulari distribuiti in posizione simmetrica. Le attività documentate nei due spazi indagati più a fondo, preparazione e consumazione di cibi a prevalente provenienza ittica e deposito di anfore vinarie, quest’ultimo in un ambiente rialzato e accessibile da una rampa, inducono a non escludere, per il periodo compreso tra II secolo a.C. e I secolo d.C., una destinazione residenziale, certo di prestigio, a giudicare dalla decorazione architettonica in pietra calcarea degli elevati e dalle pavimentazioni a mosaico di ciottoli. In questo complesso la residenzialità è stata al momento meglio chiarita per il periodo tardoantico, quando si accompagna ad attività produttive e allo stazionamento di animali, come in molti settori urbani già indagati. Nello stesso periodo, una parte di quest’area e un vasto settore esteso ancora più a Est sono lasciati aperti e destinati all’attività agricola, verosimilmente alla viticoltura, in una zona che presenta la prima significativa discontinuità nella maglia intensamente strutturata della città del vescovo, a poca distanza dell’impianto per la produzione di calce e altro materiale edile, che rifunzionalizza gli spazi delle terme del foro. In attesa di poter approfondire ulteriormente la ricerca, si può ipotizzare che la lavorazione dei prodotti agricoli, vino e forse anche olio, avvenisse nello stesso comparto, anche nella zona tra l’edificio sopra menzionato e la manifattura della calce, dove è stato appena esteso lo scavo e dove è venuta in evidenza una filiera di vasche, di dimensioni differenti, allineate e tra loro collegate. Alle esigenze di questi dispositivi provvedevano diverse strutture di approvvigionamento idrico, tra cui una cisterna la cui ghiera riutilizza parte degli _arbores_ di un torchio. Che questa cisterna sia ricavata nell’ampio vano ipogeico di una tomba a camera di età messapica, non lontana da un’altra sepoltura dello stesso tipo, in parte intercettata e riutilizzata nell’opificio delle calcare, segnala con elementi di sempre maggiore interesse la fitta articolazione del palinsesto insediativo di questa città di cui si continua a delineare la complessità del paesaggio antico. Gli spazi e le attività della città sono ora raccontati in forme di forte impatto nel nuovo percorso espositivo del MArE – Museo Nazionale Archeologico di Egnazia ‘Giuseppe Andreassi’, inaugurato il 25 luglio 2013 e nato da una stretta collaborazione tra gli archeologi della Soprintendenza e l’équipe dell’Università di Bari, coordinati dal Soprintendente Luigi La Rocca.

In 2014 the ‘Progetto Egnazia: dallo scavo alla valorizzazione’ continued excavations in the area south of the forum which included the baths, and in the area of the sanctuary on the acropolis. South of the forum, the area next to the baths was seen to be densely occupied, from the 2nd century B.C. onwards, by high-quality residential structures, characterised by a well-organised plan. The best-known building was constructed in this period. Already partially excavated in recent years, it presented a longitudinal central open space with ambulatories on the long sides, connecting a series of t symmetrical rooms on both sides. The open area identified during the previous season can now be attributed to this _domus_. It presented numerous circular and rectangular cuts that suggest this could have been a plantation laid out in the manner described by Varro in _De re rustica_ (1, 8, 1-3) for a pergola vineyard, which required alternating vines and trees, so that the vine shoots could grow around the branches thus forming the pergola. In the early imperial period, the _domus_ was obliterated by a public building that maintained the longitudinal space, closing the central area with a quadrangular apse built in _opus quadratum_ using large blocks. Despite the fact that the late antique structures have largely been razed by modern agricultural activity, there was substantial evidence of a construction site relating to a building with three naves, which used the earlier longitudinal structures as foundations. The wider, central nave ended with a new quadrangular apse built on top of the earlier one. The early imperial monument was therefore transformed into a religious building, which can be added to the already large number of ecclesiastical structures of the period in the diocese and that indicates an invasive transformation of the residential sector near the forum. In the acropolis area, the latest investigations revealed new evidence for the sanctuary’s most monumental phase, probably relating to the town planning intervention carried out in Trajan’s period. The podium temple (already excavated) was the hub of a vast sacred area, extending for c. 1550 m2 and bordered by a quadriporticus with two large quadrangular exedra at the centre of the long sides. The wall closing the portico was abutted by rooms built immediately outside the monumental enclosure, perhaps functioning as _tabernae_. The walls of one of these, in the south-east corner, were completely preserved to a height of c. 2.70 m as they were incorporated into one of the towers of the Byzantine _castrum_ that encircled the acropolis at the end of the 6th century. For the first time, the construction technique used for this tower was revealed; a double curtain with a nucleus of stones and sand, the wall with a characteristic scarp profile, of which one end was preserved. A containing structure for the new installation was built in the form of a bulwark that would also form a first line of defence. A house distinguished by its plan with six rooms arranged around a central _atrium_ from the others residences in the sanctuary area, probably dates to this period and probably belonged to a high-ranking individual garrisoned in the fortification. The collapse of the house and other residential structures in this area towards the end of the 7th century may have occurred during hostilities linked to the gradual advance of the Lombards in Puglia, culminating in this period with the conquest of Brindisi and Taranto.

As part of the ‘_Progetto Egnazia: dallo scavo alla valorizzazione_’ this season’s research concentrated on furthering investigations in the residential sector south of the forum. The new evidence, taken together with the data collected in past years, has identified almost the complete plan of two high status houses, one arranged around a central peristyle, the other a large atrium _domus_. Thus far, the urban plan that is gradually being defined presents the forum _balneum_ and the two adjoining houses. As things stand, it is suggested that both houses were entered from the south side, beyond the edge of the excavation area, in correspondence with a road running west-east perpendicular to the line of the _via_ _Traiana_. The latter was identified by the geophysical survey undertaken as part of the FIRB 2012 Project ‘_Archeologia dei paesaggi della Puglia Adriatica in età romana: tecnologie innovative per una pianificazione sostenibile e una fruizione identitaria_’. The _domus_ next to the baths had a central peristyle, around which was a walkway from which a series of rooms were entered, provided with a well-organised system for water supply and drainage. The interpretation of the original layout is difficult as the spaces and structures were radically altered from the early 5th century A.D. onwards in order to reconvert this building, together with the baths, into a structure producing building materials. The other house was built around a large atrium (9 x 8 m) with a well-preserved central _impluvium_ and rooms on all sides. To date, the period best documented by the excavations is the late antique, with a first phase ending before the end of the 4th century and rapid restructuring, both characterised by prestigious solutions in the spatial organisation and decoration, revealing the high tenor of the aristocratic residences in the areas closest to the forum. In the second phase, a small but well-built bath suite was inserted between the atrium, which was reduced in size and had a new _impluvium_, and the access road. This is new and interesting evidence of the moving into a private, elite residence, of bath facilities that until a few decades earlier had been in the nearby public _balneum_, now out of use. Numerous elements found in one of the rooms of this house suggesting the hoarding precious artefacts, perhaps family heirlooms. These included a crystal ichosahedron formed by 20 equilateral triangles (each side 2 cm), each of which inscribed with a number from the ancient Greek alphabet number system, with numbers from 1 to 20. With its new layout the _domus_ was only used for a few decades until, during the 5th century, it was obliterated by the religious building identified in 2014, with a longitudinal plan, three aisles and a quadrangular apse. The Christian monument incorporated the foundation structures on the east side of the residence, while the atrium area became an open space leading to the new structure, with wells linked to the large cistern that collected the water from the _impluvia_. At the same time, close by, the ancient peristyle house and the disused baths were transformed into a factory for making the lime and building materials clearly required by the large construction sites nearby. The complex vitality of the city’s urban plan, even in the profound transformations of the late antique landscape, is becoming increasingly clear.

The ‘_Egnazia_ _Project:_ _from_ _excavation_ _to_ _enhancement_’, run as a field school, continued its investigations of the atrium _domus_ in the large _insula_ south of the forum already known for its late antique phase. Excavations also began in another sector in the south-western part of the forum, which is separated from the previous one by the _via_ _Traiana_. The excavations in the atrium _domus_ largely revealed the layout of the house in the imperial period: the _fauces_ opened onto the road bordering the _insula_ to the south (known from geophysical survey) and led into a large atrium (9 x 8 m) with central _impluvium_, paved in _opus_ _signinum_. To the rear, on the same axis as the entrance, was the largest room, perhaps the _tablinum_, as suggested by the rich wall decoration of polychrome plaster. There were also traces of plaster where columns stood indicating the room had a colonnade opening onto the atrium. The water supply system was documented by the _impluvium_ with an overflow created in the _opus_ _signinum_, from which water drained via a small channel towards the _tablinum_ and thus to the exterior towards the forum. Indeed, based on the observation of the drainage system in the baths and the peristyle house already investigated in the same _insula_, it is possible to suggest the presence of a large sewer for the collection of waste water. The rooms on the eastern side of the house were arranged around a room opening onto the atrium and characterised by particularly refined architectural solutions. It was divided into two spaces on two levels, paved with mosaic (mostly lost) and decorated with polychrome wall plaster. The house was built on an earlier complex; the parts uncovered so far belong to a monumental enclosure in _opus_ _quadratum_ with internal partitions. The layout and materials suggest (further excavation is needed) that this was a public building, perhaps religious, used at least between the 6th and 3rd centuries B.C. Therefore, this could be the first monumental complex known for the Messapian period at Egnazia. There was some evidence of ritual practices, with interesting parallels in the Republican period, which perhaps mark the change in use of this area at the time when the _domus_ was built. Indeed, small plain ware and black glaze cups, miniature _kantharoid_ vases, together with animal remains mainly sheep-goat, but also a new born pig, without butchery marks, were found in the floor make ups. Therefore, the deepening of the excavation revealed a stratigraphy running from the Messapian monument to the aristocratic house, with evidence that it was restructured several times, until the beginning of the 5th century A.D. when a church was built on the remains of the _domus_ marking a profound change in the urban landscape. The start of excavations in the south-western sector of the forum documented a building with five rooms arranged around a central space, also dating to the 5th century, built on top of an earlier structure, only a minimal part of which has been identified so far. This was a lime-making workshop, situated between the Episcopal complex and the church near the forum, which is another addition to the numerous workshops for the production of building materials known in late antique Egnazia. The complete production line was identified in the central area: several cuts served as a deposit for the blocks that were prepared for burning in a pit lime-kiln. Water was provided by two large-capacity wells. After the lime was slaked in a large cut, the finished product was perhaps stored in an adjacent room, judging from a substantial find of slaked lime, in association with coins indicating it was sold here.

In 2017, research took place in the form of a field school as part of the ‘_Progetto_ _Egnazia_: _dallo_ _scavo_ _alla_ _valorizzazione_’. The investigation continued of the atrium _domus_ situated in the large _insula_ south of the forum, whose imperial and late antique phases are already known. Work also continued in the building in the area south-west of the forum, from which it is separated by the _via_ Traiana_. In the area of the atrium _domus_, more of the substantial Messapian remains were uncovered. They formed a large sacred area containing three enclosures arranged on the south, west and east sides of an open space, built at different times as part of the gradual monumentalisation that took place between the 6th and 4th-3rd centuries B.C. The same construction technique using carefully-built _opus_ _quadratum_ was used, with foundations of large flat slabs on top of which part of the first row of squared blocks are preserved in some case. These structures were then obliterated by the later buildings. The best-known architectural nucleus presents a rectangular space (4.90 x 4.35 m) preceded on the east side by a smaller space (1.56 x 4.38 m), perhaps functioning as a vestibule. In fact, it was possible to pass from the latter into the larger space via a threshold positioned at the centre of the structure that functioned as a diaphragm between the two. Despite the invasive interventions during the construction of the atrium _domus_ between the late 3rd century and the 2nd century B.C., and later for the construction of the church at the beginning of the 5th century B.C., a ‘stratigraphy’ documenting the entire life of the sanctuary is preserved. For the archaic period several depositions, usually a single animal (mainly _Sus_ _scrofa_ sp.) including newborn examples, were found in association with a cooking surface. Comparison with the rich repertory of cult contexts in Apulia, studied in detail particularly for the Messapian period, suggests the prevalence of pigs, moreover very young examples, to be a distinctive element of the cult of Demeter, well-attested at Egnazia in the Hellenistic period. Therefore, this may be the earliest evidence for the cult of Demeter at Egnazia, moreover in a collective sanctuary, never before documented for a Messapia. The period between the late 4th and the 3rd century B.C., is represented by the enclosure on the east side, where the rituals included depositions of sheep/goat (in addition to pigs), associated with recurrent pottery forms, primarily black glaze concave-convex cups and single-handles cups with internal red bands, also in association with cooking deposits. The most complete reading of the archaeology relates to the construction of the _domus_, where in addition to defining the chronology, it was possible to check, across the history of this aristocratic residence, a large part of the building’s surviving plan and water supply-drainage system. Evidence of the cult of Demeter is even documented in the Roman house. In 2015, a sculpture of the divinity with torch dating to the early imperial period was found. This marks an unusual continuity that provides new information about rituality at Egnazia between the Messapian and Roman periods, when Demeter is associated with Cybele to whom the city dedicated a significant space in its monumentalised area. In the area south-west of the forum, continuation of the excavations began to reveal an equally clear stratigraphy, beginning with a partially visible room dating to the Messapian period, outside of which there was a ritual deposition of a sheep/goat, again associated with a single-handled black glaze cup with red bands on the interior. The deposition can be dated to the late 4th-3rd century B.C.

The 2021 research for ‘Progetto Egnazia: dallo scavo alla valorizzazione’ took the usual form of a teaching excavation, in which about 70 students participated, and interventions took place in two sectors of the ancient city. In the _insula_ south of the forum, which has been extensively investigated in recent years, several tombs belonging to the indigenous dwellings (previously excavated) were identified, and perhaps a sector destined for infant burials. They date to the site’s earliest phase – between the late 4th and the early 2nd century B.C. In this space there was also a well, built in _opus_ _quadratum_ using large blocks, which showed the same skilful construction seen in the dwellings. Further excavation in the area linking the atrium _domus_ with the peristyle house, which obliterate the indigenous dwellings, confirmed that both houses were built as distinct architectural units in the first half of the 2nd century B.C. This is the period to which the results of recent research date the laying-out of the road network and the formation of the _insulae_, at least in the central area of the city. The autonomy of the houses was confirmed by the study of the water supply structures. In the early imperial period, therefore at the time of the forum’s construction and the building of the baths in this _insula_, the two residential units were joined into one house with atrium and peristyle, in a very visible position a few metres away from the forum. The question of water resource management also emerged from the results of the excavations in the other sector at the south-eastern edge of the city. In 2019, imposing channels made of limestone were found closing a quadrangular area destined for rain water collection. This season, an underground branch was identified that seems to channel the water into the underground structure known as the ‘cryptoporticus’. If this connection is confirmed, it will provide another element to support the reinterpretation of this monument as the largest water distribution structure in the city, in a sector that increasingly appears to have been the area for supply and public distribution, dedicated to the systematic exploitation of the natural water resources, which made the use of an aqueduct unnecessary. It is also of great interest that, from the 5th century onwards, the area for water collection and the quadriportico around it were reused as metal working structures, for which the forge and quenching pit were identified, close to four rooms used for working and living, according to the multipurpose model that characterised the city in the late antique period.