Season Team

• AIAC_55 - Vignale - 2002
  Vignale forms a key part of the settlement of _Falerii Veteres_; it is crucial for our understanding of the complex phenomena that determined the appearance and development of the settlement. The results of the geophysical and topographical survey undertaken in 2000 and 2001 allow us to reassess the nature and extent of the archaeological remains located on the plateau at Vignale. The spatial arrangement of the site suggests that the settlement was articulated around two separate alignments laying either side of a sunken road. To the north of the sunken road lay a sanctuary area with two temples and two cisterns. The geophysical survey has found structural evidence beside the southern cistern, and the overall results demonstrate that both cisterns share the same northwest to southwest alignment. The magnetometry and resistivity surveys also reveal a complex of structures associated with the southernmost temple, which measure some 60 x 40 m, and are of the same alignment. A difference in function in the area to the south of the road is perhaps supported by the geochemical evidence, which shows differing patterns. The geophysical evidence shows many small sub-rectangular anomalies, with rarer larger features. In cases, it has been possible to infer relationships between the smaller features, and they seem to share the east-west orientation of the sunken road. Some are likely to have been wells, while the larger ones with squared sides may have been water-cisterns. Despite the different nature of activities taking place to the north and south of the sunken road, there is little doubt that the route itself is the key to understanding how activity on the Vignale plateau was structured, with the area lying on its northern side acting as a sanctuary. The sanctuary area can be seen as one of the ritual foci of _Falerii Veteres_, on account of the prominence of the plateau and its geographical position. It is important to remember that it was but one of a number of sanctuaries within the broader settlement complex of _Falerii Veteres_. The existence of many sanctuaries suggests that movement within, and possibly between, sanctuaries along established route-ways, like that found at Vignale, is probably fundamental to understanding how such routes were used by the inhabitants.
• AIAC_63 - Seripola - 2000
  The river port of Seripola, situated on the eastern bank of the Tiber, was discovered in 1962-63 during the construction of the Autostrada A1. The site was identified in the Tabula Peutingeriana as Castellum Amerinum and is located at the point where the ancient via Amerina crossed the Tiber. The excavations, conducted on only a part of the site, have permitted a dating of the occupation between the second century BC and Late Antique period. As part of the project of analysis of the cities, road stations and ports of the middle and lower Tiber valley, new investigations were begun with the use of the geophysical research and surface survey in the area outside the excavations of Seripola and near the via Amerina. Magnetometry revealed the presence of sepulchral structures both along the via Amerina and along the bank of the Tiber. These show an extention of the site higher than that previously imagined. Moreover, it was possible to follow the layout of the via Amerina for a length of over 140 meters beyond the excavated area; its route is delimited by tombs and mausolea. The continuation of this research will permit further clarification of the structure of this small river port.