Season Team

• AIAC_136 - Fregellae - 2005
  Two seasons of archaeological survey, integrating geophysical and topographical techniques, were undertaken focussing on the area around the forum at _Fregellae_ at the invitation of Professor Filippo Coarelli. This integrated survey has proved invaluable in understanding and interpreting the nature of the archaeological remains despite the problems of the natural geology and the insubstantial character of the structures. It is also clear that the distinctive local topography constrained the layout of the city. The central ridge provided the axis for the via Latina and acted as a focus for public buildings including the forum and comitium. The magnetometer survey provided a reasonably clear depiction of the plans of both public and private buildings. Different depths of deposit that have accumulated on different parts of the site may obscure some ancient buildings but there are also likely to have been differences in preservation. As the magnetometer survey did successfully identify structures on the steep slopes of the western part of the plateau we are encouraged about its potential for the large scale mapping of the city.
• AIAC_1874 - La Civitucola - 2001
  Geophysical and topographical survey was undertaken at Capena, which forms part of the ‘Roman Towns in the Middle and Lower Tiber Valley Project’. The results build upon earlier work, and provide new information about the layout and development of the site between c. the eighth century BC and the late antique period. The geophysics revealed that the ancient settlement was structured around a road system that followed the ridge of La Civitucola, with branch roads opening off it. They also suggest that in the archaic period the site probably occupied some 3 ha, expanding to c. 8.7 ha under the Republic and then contracting to c. 6 ha in the Imperial period. Ancient structures appear at the western end of the site, around the standing structure of Il Castellaccio, where they are possibly related to the forum of the town, and at a much lower level at the eastern end of the site. Overall the results suggest that while Capena may have been a relatively small town when compared to centres like Falerii Novi, it was probably still quite densely occupied and played an important regional administrative role.
• 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_2212 - Castellum Amerinum - 2003
  Excavation of this site in the 1960’s revealed a settlement, which developed from the 2nd century BC on into late antiquity, with some public buildings including a bath house. However, the edges of the town were never discovered, and so the full extent of the settlement, and its role in the Tiber Valley, was never totally understood. Microtopography, magnetometry and resistivity survey were all used to investigate the landscape around the excavation area, to try and gain more knowledge about this settlement. The results so far are striking, as the settlement stretched much further along the Tiber than previously thought, with some structures appearing much grander than expected. The survey also revealed the route of the Via Amerina, the tombs that flanked it, and the aqueduct.
• 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.