Season Team

• AIAC_966 - Monte Testaccio - 2004
  The 2004 campaign excavated the southern zone of Monte Testaccio, at the same height as the 2003 excavation (232m a.s.l.), where material dating to the years 178-179 A.D. were found. Some of the pottery fragments bore epigraphic evidence: stamps, _tituli picti_ and graffiti. The surface layer, to a depth of 45 cm, was made up of _humus_ mixed with collapsed material of the 3rd century A.D. At this depth, in the north-western corner of the excavation, was a wall, on a north/west-south-east alignment, comprised of large fragments of Dressel 20 _amphorae_. In the excavation area outside the wall, at a depth of – 160 cm, was a layer of crushed material which may have been a floor. At – 180 cm the remains of _amphorae_ which could be easily re-constructed were found. It appeared that the _amphorae_ had been placed along the outer front of the wall, even if in an unorganised fashion. It can be suggested that this row constituted one of the wall’s foundation offsets. The material outside the wall was excavated to a depth of – 180 cm, which in terms of typology corresponds to the second half of the 2nd century A.D., and provided a _terminus ante quem _for the wall itself through finds of _tituli picti delta_, one of which probably datable to 151 A.D. Inside the wall none of the _tituli delta_ have consular dates, thus the _terminus ante quem_ is 145 A.D. (the date when they started to appear). The characteristics of the _amphorae_ date them to the Hadrianic period. From the – 180 cm level down to – 200 cm crushed material appeared attributable to a different floor. As the wall was lost at – 180 cm, it was not possible to determine whether this level constituted the base of the wall or the wall was at a lower depth further on. Below the depth of – 240 cm another probable floor appeared and at – 320 cm Dressel 20 _amphorae_ were found. The study of the amphora stamps produced two different groups: those from inside the wall and those from outside. Amongst the first group were those from _Vinginensis_ (Alcalà del Fio, Seville), known from the mid 2nd century A.D. onwards. In the second group were stamps of the CIALB group, originally from Malpica along the river Genil (Palma del Rio, Cordova) of mid 2nd century A.D. date. The same phenomenon occurred for the _tituli beta_ amongst which were the names of individuals known in the 2nd century A.D., including members of the _gens Valerii_, the _gens Caecilii_, the _gens Segolatii_ or _Vibii_. (MiBAC)