Season Director

• AIAC_68 - SS.Pontina, km. 18-20 - 1971
  The enlargement of the SS Pontina in the 1970s led to the discovery of a vast protohistoric inhumation necropolis, related to a settlement on the plateau of Monte Cicoriaro which overlooks the site. The results of the first restorations were shown in an exhibition on pre-Roman Latium (see bibliography). The work continues, however, as a laboratory excavation which has permitted the conservation of numerous tomb groups excavated as blocks of earth in order to ensure their recovery, otherwise impossible in the field. Excavation in the lab is supported by the earlier documentation. The project has now created a a management plan for the 133 tomb groups excavated, comprising around 3000 objects: this includes programming future conservation, constant maintenance of the more delicate objects (metals, amber, leather and bone) and storage on supports or in containers specially designed for exhibition. The first results of this second stage have been presented at the exhibition Memorie dal Sottosuolo (see bibliography), with the aim of illustrating the didactic potential of the project. By now 52 grave groups have been restored, the majority of the objects excavated in the past have been re-examined and documented, including pottery vessels, weapons, chariots and armaments both for war and parade, objects for personal use etc. The material is now preserved in the warehouses of the Protohistoric Section of the Soprintendenza at the MJuseo dell'Alto Medioevo. Tombs 14 and 15, the subject of recent intervention, are permanently exhibited atthe museum of the presidential estate at Castel Porziano. (Margherita Bedello Tata)
• AIAC_90 - Porta Romana - 2004
  As part of the four-year program of research by French and Italian scholars, on the derivation and distribution of water to Ostia the Ecole Française de Rome has chosen to analyze the largest castellum aquae of the city. This structure is situated nearby the Porta Romana, on the inside of the late Republican city walls. It had been previously excavated in 1985-1986, though the excavation was incomplete. Using exclusively the stratigraphy of the standing structures, it was possible to propose, at the end of this campaign, a preliminary interpretation of the remains. This interpretation will be devloped and completed after the second campaign, set to take place from June 28 - July 24, 2004. (Margherita Bedello Tata)

Season Team

• AIAC_65 - Malafede-Casale Infermeria - 1992
  The complex comprises two aqueducts that run along a hilly area flanking the fosso Malafede and delimited by two low hills. The excavation was carried out with sample trenches. The two channels run at different heights for the whole of the length examined, one on top of the other under the hills, and parallel where they run close to or above the surface. They were built in sequence, as both sides of the first channel are faced, while only the outside wall of the second is. The earlier aqueduct is lower, 1.30m. wide, with foundations in opus caementicium and outer walls in _opus reticulatum_ and _opus mixtum_, with clear patches and restorations. The channel is lined with _opus signinum_ with quarter-round moldings at the junction of the walls and floor, and is covered with tiles placed a _cappuccino_ where it runs above ground and with masonry below ground. The second aqueduct is in _opus mixtum_, with its channel 1.40 m. wide, and also lined with _opus signinum_. Where it runs along the top of the earlier channel in the points where they enter the hill, the top of the first was reinforced with a saddle in _opus caementicium_. In the same sector two inspection wells were found at ground level: these show the line of the specus as they run underground. The slope measures 1:1000 for the first channel, and 2:1000 for the second. This is sufficient to carry the water between this area and Ostia. The springs which filled them were probably found at Trigoria. (Margherita Bedello Tata)
• AIAC_66 - Terme dei Cisiarii, II Regione - 1996
  The restoration of the Terme dei Cisiarii, begun in the 1990s, required some archaeological research as well. The baths date to the Hadrianic period, and occupy part of the central and northern area of a larger insula fronting on the Decumanus Maximus, at the point where the late republican commercial complex of the Magazzini Repubblicani was built. The sondages carried out to help understand the conservation showed the relationship of the baths to the Magazzini and clarified the various phases later than the Hadrianic period, linked to transformations and enlargements of the baths and their service buildings. Particularly interesting were the investigations under the pavement of one of the hot rooms, perhaps a tepidarium, where a Severan rebuilding of the hypocaust was brought to light, dated by brick stamps to between AD 198 and 217. In the layer representing the collapse of the ceiling over the pavement, which resulted in the destruction of the pilae of the underlying floor, were found numerous fragments of the stuccoes of the vault which can be added to those already discoverded at the beginning of the twentieth century in excavations which were never completed. In 2001 a project was initiated to restore the stuccoes, with the aim of reconstructing the decorative scheme of the vault, walls and lunettes. The coffered ceiling was articulated in octagons and roundels with vegetal motifs, with moulded figures in high relief. In the roundels were found rosettes and heads, while in the octagons were figured scenes - people on fantastic beasts, mythological figures, and putti at play. The walls were probably joined to the ceiling with bands of multiple figured friezes. There is no certainty as to the position of a group in high relief composed of a couple, perhaps Hercules and Athena, although it is probable that they were placed on a flat surface. (Margherita Bedello Tata)
• AIAC_67 - Via Laurentina - 1990
  The Laurentina or of the liberti Claudii is one of the necropoleis of ancient Ostia. In it are found various types of tomb; enclosures, monuments, columbari, aedicula and caissons. Its position outside the archaeological area has exposed it over the years to vanadalism and theft. However, in the last decade it has been gradually restored and secured by fencing. Cleaning of vegetation and maintenance have made it possible to see the site, while visitor routes have been created. Various seasons of conservation of the structures and their furnishings have also been carried out. In particular tomb 18, the tomb of the Isiac priesteess, has been restored, together with its decoration, which consists of a stuccoed ceiling and painted wall plaster, that allow us to date the compelx to the Augustan period and to read the successive phases of its use. In the course of several campaigns of maintenance a number of fragments of frescoes have emerged which document earlier phases of wall decoration obliterated by later projects. The necropolis has recently been the subject of field survey and documentation, which has made it possible to understand its various phases. (Margherita Bedello Tata)
• AIAC_69 - Terme dei Cisiarii, II Regione - 1996
  Conservation recently carried out on the baths of the Cisiarii has resulted in excavations in various parts of the complex, in particular the southern wing, related to the enlargement of the service areas carried out in the third century. Here a room was found to have been adapted to contain a water wheel, while the wheel itself was preserved in the silts on the floor. Two sides of the room reused the walls of the earlier complex of the Magazzini Repubblicani, while the northwest wall and the stairs formed part of the third century additions, designed to create the space for the water wheel and its operation. The continuously high water table has allowed the preservation of the wheel and other parts of the structure which supported it, including planks from the shuttering of the walls, joists, struts, and a wooden structure which might be interpreted as an earlier well head. The whole system may be related to the passage from Vitruvius which describes water wheels, or nouria, designed to lift water up to the height of the diameter of the wheel. The wheel itself was of light construction, with troughs to gather and lift the water. It turned on an axel held by bearings whose sockets are still visible in the wall. Among the wooden fragments are found spokes, the wedges that reinforced the joints, pivots, iron nails, and other still unidentified elements. Among the materials of the fill were found coins of Gordian III, Philip the Arab, marble and wooden statuettes, pottery, a leather sole, hairpins and so on. (Margherita Bedello Tata)
• AIAC_84 - Le Cerquete Fianello - 2003
  The village of Le Cerquete Fianello is located in the area of Maccarese "Bonifica". the extension of a coastal lake which shores where inhabited from Neolithic to Middle Bronze Age has been reconstructed using geomorphological analysis. The excavation, started in 1992, covers an area of 1000 square meters, which represents nearly one tenth of the estimated extension of the site. Five huts have been detected, four oval and one sub-circular. Two oval huts are divided in two by a partition. Hearths inside and outside of the huts are also present, as well as oval and round pits. Alignments of postholes between huts may be referred to enclosures. In some areas the ceramic material seems to create a living floor, perhaps for drainage purposes. In the southern part of the settlement there was a pit burial of a young male in a contracted position. A skull of an adult male was found nearby. The area toward the eastern limit of the village was characterized by the presence of many pits, one of them containing a burial of a domestic horse accompanied by two dog pups. The ceramic assemblage shows two main classes and standardised shapes. The lithic industry in flint shows a variety of tools, mainly arrow heads. Knowledge of metal working is confirmed by the presence of a small awl in pure copper. Husbandry and agriculture represent the economic basis. The AMS determinations date this village to the end of the fourth millennium b.C. cal. (Cecilia Conati Barbaro)
• AIAC_85 - Interporto - 2003
  This settlement lies on a sandy peninsula along the SE shore of the ancient lake of Maccarese. Two big structured hearths, the base of two clay ovens, many fragmented stoves and a storage pit have been discovered so far. A marked slope shows the settlement limits towards the lake: this area is particularly rich in sherds, faunal and botanical remains (grains and charcoals). A small bronze ingot, a glass paste bead and bone tools are also present. On the basis of the formal characteristics of pottery the site may be referred to the second half of XI mill. B.C. (Cecilia Conati Barbaro)
• AIAC_86 - Malafede, 9a - 1999
  Archaeological survey carried out a few years ago in the territory of Malafede - loc. Valle Porcina (Acilia RM), led to the discovery of a Roman villa, signalled by a dense concentration of terracotta and building materials. The excavations, fruit of a collaboration between the Soprintendenze archeologica di Ostia and Soprintendenza comunale di Roma, have revealed the remains of a villa strategically located on the summit of a hill (50 meters above sea level) that dominates the Fosso del Fontanile. The villa, organized around an atrium, contained both a residential and a productive sector. The residential portion of the villa contained a small bath complex, from which were recovered impressive fragments of stucco and painted wall plaster. Due to the near-total destruction of the pavements, it has been possible to gather much information on the drainage systems inside the building. The study of the walls and ceramic evidence suggests that the building was in use from the first century BC until the second century AD; coinciding with the period in which occupation of this territory was at its height. (Lucia Suaria-Rossella Zaccagnini)
• AIAC_87 - Malafede, 8a - 2004
  Work done at the beginning of the 1990s in the area of Malafede (loc. Valle Porcina, Acilia RM), has led to the discovery of a rather small spread of pottery, located not far from the hill where a villa rustica of the early imperial period was brought to light at the end of the 1990s. The excavation has shown a series of walls delimiting a roughly rectangular area. The walls are built in dry stone with tiles and broken pieces of tufa. The small size of the structures seem to contrast with the conspicuous presence of ceramic materials that indicate an continuous frequentation of the site between the third and second centuries BC, in a period immediately preceding the establishment of the villa, and might be considered its immediate predecessor. The abandonment of the establishment is marked by the presence of a tomb "alla cappuccina", without grave goods, dated not earlier than the first century AD. (Lucia Suaria-Rossella Zaccagnini)