Season Team

• AIAC_1871 - Riva di Roma - 2007
  Between 12th July 2006 and 10th August 2007 a geophysical survey was undertaken at the site of Riva di Roma close to the town of Acilia Madonetta, 20km to the south west of Rome in the Comune di Roma. The survey was conducted to assess the archaeological potential of an area of terrain some 135 hectares in size, located between the low hills of Acilia to the north east, and the coastal plain of Casal Palocco to the south west. The work was carried out on behalf of SIACI for Pirelli RE – Aree Urbane, and was conducted by the British School at Rome and the University of Southampton. The survey was successful in mapping and identifying a number of archaeological features across the area, mainly relating to the works of the Bonifica conducted along the coastal plain in the 19th and 20th centuries. Remnants of some military and telecommunications infrastructure were also identified in the survey results, but no extensive evidence was found to suggest significant human habitation in the area in the prehistoric, Roman and medieval periods.
• AIAC_1873 - Calatia - 2007
  In June/July 2006 and November 2007 geophysical survey was undertaken at the site of Roman town of Calatia by a joint team from the British School at Rome and the Archaeological Prospection Services of Southampton (APSS). The work was funded by and conducted on behalf of the Comune di Maddaloni. Both magnetometry and resistivity techniques have been successful in detecting major anomalies such as roads and large walls but each has failed to identify more detailed traces of the internal layout and form of the town. This survey has highlighted the advantages of using two methods as they can compliment each other and it is easier to evaluate the integrity of the results. A number of roads were detected in the magnetometer survey. The alignment of the _decumanus_ and _cardines_ clearly compliment the traces of roads identified in the previous season’s results (Hay 2006: 11) and the overall grid system applied in the town. Once again, there is a paucity of internal structures relating to these routeways. The integration of the resistivity survey certainly confirms the presence of these roads, represented as areas of high resistance in the results. Critically, the course of the town wall was identified in the northern part of the survey area. As a direct result of applying and integrated survey methodology a trace of the northern part of the town’s circuit wall was detected.
• AIAC_1884 - Domus Aurea - 2007
  Between the 9th and 15th of January 2007, a geophysical survey was undertaken at the site of Nero’s _Domus Aurea_. The work was carried out on behalf of the Soprintendenza Archeologica di Roma, and was conducted by the British School at Rome and the University of Southampton. The geophysical survey over the _Domus Aurea_ was successful in locating a significant number of changes in deposits relating to archaeological deposits at the site. The undulating nature of the overburden and deposits covering the _Domus_ was clearly illustrated, with shallower overburden located to the northern side of the survey area and deeper overburden situated along the south part of the area, possibly relating to the erosion of deposits from the terrace, and repairs made to the terrace wall and subsequent backfilling. A significant depth of overburden is suggested close to the northern edge of the square cement cover situated in the park. In general the archaeological deposits at the site appear to be situated between 1.2m and 4m below the modern ground surface, although this varies considerably, with significant structural evidence visible in the eastern half of the survey, corresponding with the ground plan of the _Domus_, and in the eastern half of Grid 1-2, corresponding with the western side of the Domus. The survey also indicates the significant build up of paving, hard standing and modern infrastructure such as pipelines, over the entire surface of the park.
• AIAC_1891 - Maglianella - 2007
  In October 2007, a geophysical survey was undertaken at the site of Maglianella on the outskirts of Rome by the Archaeological Prospection Services of Southampton (APSS) and The British School at Rome. The work was carried out on behalf of Sig. Luciano Chianese. Overall, the results of the magnetometer survey confirm a lack of archaeological remains in the three areas. Much of the general survey area has been disturbed by modern debris including ferrous material, cement and areas of burning. These elements prevent accurate detection of buried archaeological remains. However, it is unlikely that archaeological remains are present in the survey areas. The existing housing development has probably already disturbed much of the land in its immediate vicinity.
• AIAC_1897 - Porto - 2007
  The first season took place over five weeks during September and early October 2007, and was directed by Simon Keay and Graeme Earl (Southampton), assisted by Dott.ssa Lidia Paroli (Soprintendenza per I Beni Archeologici di Ostia), and involved participants from the universities of Southampton, Cambridge, Rome ‘La Sapienza’, Aix-en-Provence, Tarragona and Seville. It built upon two earlier seasons of topographic work (March 2007) and resistance tomography (June 2007). The excavations uncovered a large (250 mq) open area at the eastern edge of the Palazzo Imperiale, a key building at the centre of the port, revealing a large rectangular dock or canal that was probably of Claudian date, defined by a spectacular series of moles on the south side of the main Claudian basin of the port. This was filled with sand in the course of the first and second centuries AD, and its central stretch subsequently covered by a large circular building in the Severan period. The whole area was extensively replanned in the later fifth and sixth centuries AD.
• AIAC_1897 - Porto - 2008
  Geophysics: The three year programme of magnetometer survey on the Isola Sacra began in the north-eastern corner of the island and has detected: • Structures to the south of the Fossa Traiana between Sant Ippolito and the Capo due Rami • that are possibly associated with the _Statio Marmorum_ • Road alignments • Field boundaries • Possible tomb structures overlooking the Tiber. Excavation: The main _focus_ of excavations remained the large open area at the eastern edge of the Palazzo Imperiale initiated in 2007. The sequence here is now clearer. Considerable emphasis was directed towards the southern side of the channel excavated in 2007. While the expected southern mole has proved elusive, the excavations uncovered the northern face and a range of rooms belonging to the large building delimiting the southern side of the channel: this runs for 250m in an east-west direction, and was c. 80 m wide. This southern wall face embodied a high complex structural sequence running from the 1st through to the later 5th centuries AD. More was learned about the circular building uncovered in 2007. It was in fact ovoid in shape (c. 42m x 35 m) and may have acted as a centre for the registration of incoming cargoes. Emphasis was also directed towards the excavation of the sequence of cisterns at its northern end. It now seems certain that these were built during the Trajanic and Hadrianic periods, undergoing an important series of modifications down into the late antique period, as well as providing evidence for limited occupation during the 11th-13th centuries AD. It is possible that these were the easternmost of a line of cisterns along the northern façade of the Palazzo Imperiale, that were fed by an aqueduct running along the south side of the channel uncovered in 2007, and which may have been used to provide freshwater for ships leaving Portus on their return journeys. Additional fieldwork included a programme of geoarchaeological coring in the excavation area (J-P Goiran, Universite de Lyons), as well as a sub-bottom profile survey of the Trajanic basin in collaboration with the Duca Sforza Cesarini.
• AIAC_1897 - Porto - 2009
  The third and final season of excavations at Portus were undertaken for two weeks in the first half of July, and between the 26th August and the 23rd October. This involved the continuation of excavation on the western side of the side at the foot of the late antique walls, within the large building at the southern end of the site (Building 5), on the western side of the cistern block (Buildings 1 and 3) and on the western side of the path in the direction of the main body of the “Palazzo Imperiale.” Overall an area of c. 3000 square metres has now been excavated with an international team of c 50 people, resulting in the identification of seven main periods of structural development along the eastern side of the “Palazzo Imperiale.” One of the highlights of the season included the discovery of the western side of the amphitheatre, which was found to be inscribed within a monumental hemicycle, a seriously of luxuriously appointed rooms lying immediately to the west which formed the eastern edge of a garden complex. The rooms generated large quantities of imported marble, including a very fine head, possibly representing Ulysses, and environmental material. Another was the discovery of the Claudian mole and an associated series of beach deposits. In addition to the excavation, there was an intensive programme of Ground Penetrating Radar survey covering the whole of the “Palazzo Imperiale,” further environmental coring (with the Université de Lyon) and a first programme of helicopter-based infra-red photography of the whole of Portus and the Isola Sacra (with the University of Ghent).
• AIAC_1898 - Falacrinae - 2007
  Alla terza campagna di scavo la ricerca si è concentrata in due settori: l’area di Vezzano, la cui esplorazione, già iniziata lo scorso anno, aveva rivelato la presenza di strutture pertinenti a un abitato, identificabile con ogni probabilità con il _vicus di Falacrinae_, luogo di origine dell’imperatore Vespasiano; e l’area adiacente al cimitero di S. Lorenzo, dove indagini di superficie ed esplorazioni geofisiche avevano segnalato la presenza di resti antichi, pertinenti verosimilmente ad una villa. L’esplorazione del sito di S. Lorenzo ha portato alla luce un’ampia area occupata dai resti di una villa di grandi dimensioni. Le murature conservate appartengono ad almeno tre fasi, comprese tra la tarda repubblica e il V secolo d.C., quando l’edificio venne distrutto e abbandonato (come dimostrano le numerose monete e gli altri manufatti, scoperti nei livelli di distruzione). La fase più importante va datata al periodo augusteo, cui appartiene un portico colonnato, di cui sono state scavate alcune colonne in laterizio e un capitello dorico in calcare. Dopo un’apparente fase di abbandono estesa dalla fine del II a tutto il III secolo d.C., il sito venne rioccupato nel corso del IV, quando almeno una parte di esso venne destinata ad usi industriali, come sembra attestare la scoperta di macine di lava, di fosse di decantazione, di recipienti di bronzo e scorie di lavorazione, in corso di studio. Non è escluso che possa trattarsi della villa appartenente ai Flavi, anche se la conferma di tale ipotesi, per ora prematura, richiederà ulteriori indagini. La partecipazione dell’archeologo-antropologo Llorençe Alapont Martin ha permesso l’analisi degli scheletri scoperti nella necropoli scavata nelle due campagne precedenti, con risultati particolarmente importanti per lo studio del popolamento e della società sabina in età tardo-antica.
• AIAC_1898 - Falacrinae - 2008
  La campagna di scavo del 2008 nel sito di _Falacrinae_ si è svolta tra il 7 luglio e il 16 agosto: in considerazione del fatto che si trattava dell’ultima campagna prima del bimillenario della nascita di Vespasiano (occasione di molteplici eventi, convegni e mostre, una delle quali avrà sede nella stessa Cittareale) si è ritenuto opportuno prolungarla a sei settimane (invece delle cinque abituali) e raddoppiare il numero delle persone coinvolte, portandolo a quaranta presenze quotidiane. Ciò ha permesso, tra l’altro, di ampliare notevolmente la superficie scavata. La stagione, cui hanno partecipato archeologi inglesi, italiani, francesi, spagnoli, slovacchi e australiani, ha fornito risultati di notevole importanza. Le aree prese in esame sono le stesse della campagna 2007: i siti di Vezzano e di San Lorenzo. L’esplorazione dell’area di San Lorenzo, iniziata nel 2007, ha rivelato la presenza di una villa di età imperiale di dimensioni imponenti: l’area scavata, che per ora ha permesso di identificare solo il lato occidentale, si estende frontalmente (da nord a sud) per circa 120 m; da est a ovest per circa 60: ma è evidente già da ora che la superficie occupata doveva essere assai più ampia. Le strutture sono disposte su terrazzamenti digradanti da ovest ad est, in direzione della pianura antistante, percorsa dal Velino e dalla via Salaria, che doveva costituire almeno in parte il terreno appartenente alla villa. Il settore orientale, dove probabilmente era l’ingresso, sembra occupato da un grande cortile, porticato almeno sul lato occidentale, come dimostra la presenza di una serie di basi _in situ_ e di resti di colonne in laterizio. Immediatamente più a ovest, un’area libera sembra corrispondere a un giardino, in relazione forse con una canalizzazione pavimentata con tegole, perfettamente conservata. L’area residenziale più importante doveva trovarsi più a nord, dove lo scavo ha portato alla luce un pavimento a mosaico bianco, pertinente ad una seconda fase del complesso, e un lussuoso pavimento in _opus sectile_, con lastre di preziosi marmi transmarini (giallo antico, serpentino, cipollino, ecc.): l’esplorazione di questa zona, solo iniziata, verrà completata nella campagna del 2009, e promette sorprese di grande rilievo. La prima fase della villa va datata, sulla base dei materiali scoperti, ai primi anni dell’età augustea, anche se non mancano indizi della presenza in loco di un edificio più antico, di età tardo-repubblicana, probabilmente più ridotto. L’abbandono dell’edificio sembra da attribuire al II secolo d.C., ma è incerto se l’occupazione sia o meno continuata nel III d.C., che corrisponde a un periodo di crisi per la villa. Molto più tardi (probabilmente nel IV secolo d.C., come confermano le numerose monete di bronzo scoperte) il settore più meridionale venne rioccupato, almeno in parte, e riadattato, a quanto sembra, per servire da cucina: oltre che dalla presenza di macine in lava, di piccoli silos sotterranei (da cui sono state recuperate granaglie di vario tipo: orzo, frumento ecc.) e di vasi di bronzo, l’identificazione è confermata dalla natura dell’abbondante ceramica rinvenuta, in gran parte contenitori da cucina. Si potrebbe pensare a una sorta di locanda, che a sua volta scompare agli inizi del V secolo d.C, nel corso di un incendio di cui si sono rinvenute tracce evidenti: tutto l’ambiente è apparso ricoperto e sigillato dal crollo del tetto (notevoli i resti delle travi carbonizzate e delle tegole). L’identificazione dell’edificio non è ancora possibile, anche se la sua cronologia, le sue dimensioni e l’aspetto lussuoso del suo settore residenziale fanno pensare a un proprietario di alto livello economico e sociale. La possibilità di attribuirlo alla gens Flavia (e quindi di identificarvi il luogo di nascita di Vespasiano) è allettante, anche se la scoperta di un dolio bollato con il nome di un _L. Octavius Calvinus _ farebbe propendere per una conclusione diversa. E’ possibile però che si tratti di un _dominus_ successivo ai Flavi, oppure, piuttosto, del proprietario della figlina dove era stato realizzato il dolio.
• AIAC_1898 - Falacrinae - 2009
  The third season of excavation at the site of the Roman villa at San Lorenzo took place between the 6th July and 15th August and involved some 40 students from universities in Italy, Ireland, Spain, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. The site, which lies 4 kilometers to the south of Cittareale overlooking the Via Salaria, was first identified at the end of the 19th century, has since 2007 been the subject of detailed investigation through geophysical survey and excavation by the British School at Rome and the University of Perugia. The aim of the 2009 excavation was to investigate a range of rooms at the northern extent of the villa, initially indicated by the geophysical survey, and whose presence was confirmed at the close of the previous year’s excavation. Furthermore, excavation continued of the late antique phase, identified in the western range of the complex, where over the course of the previous two years a small workshop has been discovered, revealing that the villa was the site of a various forms of production in the late 4th and early 5th century AD. Finally, a test trench was planned in order to assess the southern extent of the villa, in view of future excavation. The 2008 excavation had revealed the north-western corner of a large double colonnade, to the east of which lay an open area, and behind which appeared to lie a series of rooms. This was confirmed by the 2009 excavation, which discovered a series of five rooms, two of which were decorated with white limestone mosaic floors, and one which was decorated with a marble floor in opus sectile. These rooms, which formed the pars urbana of the villa, also served to define the northern limit of the complex, also confirmed by a substantial external wall and the end of a long paved drainage channel. The spectacular discovery of a preserved floor in opus sectile is amongst the most important aspects of this villa. The two different types of modules used in the composition of the floor, together with the various different types of marble, suggest that the pavement can be dated to the Flavian period, a moment in which the villa was subject to significant alterations. Also discovered in this northern part of the complex was a small calidarium, as identified by the presence of in situ suspensurae and a praefurnium. The second major area which the 2009 excavation focussed upon was the continued investigation of a series of rooms of the complex which were later reused in the late antique, after a period of abandonment of the villa in the 3rd century AD. The discovery over the previous years of a series of pools and several paved bases which had been exposed to firing, as well a number of bronze vessels and millstones, together with a small hoard of coins gave an indication as to the activity in this villa in the late antique. Excavation therefore continued of the most southerly room before the site is cut by a small track and a modern pipeline. The excavation revealed further aspects of production on the site, including the mould of a lamp, as well as confirming the probability of several phases of construction in the late antique period. Excavation has shown that a significant part of the central range of the complex lies underneath the church and modern cemetery of San Lorenzo. Therefore, guided by the results of a magnetometry survey conducted in 2008, an evaluation trench, begun the previous year, was further extended to the south of the complex. The results suggest that the first phase of the villa lay on the southern end of the terrace, and as the villa was monumentalised in the Early Imperial period, it extended to the north, finally covering an area of approximately 10,000m².
• AIAC_1903 - Spina - 2008
  The geophysical survey was carried out at the request of Dr Vedia Izzet of the University of Southampton as part of a research project to investigate, through remote sensing, the ancient Etruscan town of Spina. The 3-week season had the aim of testing the response of the buried archaeology to surface survey. It is clear that the survey results in one area are of singular importance towards the understanding of the urban settlement of Spina. In the area surveyed it is apparent that the frequency and shape of the linear features is repeated across the site, suggesting that the sub-surface structures being investigated are of various thicknesses, possibly with smaller building structures contained within them. The systematic layout of these features also strongly suggests that they most likely represent groups of residential buildings methodically laid out in _insula_ blocks divided by an orthogonal grid system of roads. The overall features displayed in the geophysics strongly support and confirm the location of an almost untouched Etruscan settlement. It is possible to identify the location of _insulae_ blocks with divisions within them as well as the roads that separate each _insula_. It must also be noted that the large geological feature that runs across the site also appears to correspond to what archaeologists believed was the settlement’s original perimeter.
• AIAC_2213 - Santa Maria dei Casali - 2008
  A geophysical survey was carried out near Cottanello in Lazio from the 10th-14th March 2008. The survey was carried out in the vicinity of the church of Santa Maria dei Casali in Collelungo following the discovery of a fragment of a statue in the area. The work was carried out at the request of Sindaco Roberto Angeletti of the Comune di Cottanello in association with the Soprintendenza Archeologica per Lazio (Dott.ssa Giovanna Alvino), and the landowner. The survey was undertaken by a joint team from the Archaeological Prospection Services of Southampton (APSS) and the British School at Rome. Overall, the survey results do not confirm the hypothesis that there were Roman structures associated with the fragment of statuary found. The dearth of evidence from this local area for structural Roman remains would seem to confirm our findings. It remains perplexing, however, as to where the statue fragment originated.