Name
Lidia Paroli
Organisation Name
Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici di Ostia

Season Director

  • AIAC_1897 - Porto - 2003
    The geophysics work around Trajan’s harbour began in 1998, and has since been completed. The magnetometry results revealed: • A plan of the ‘Imperial Palace’ and its associated warehouses • A series of warehouses fronting the port • A part of the massive defensive wall circuit • The port’s major aqueduct, the location of which was previously unknown • Details of buildings to the southwest of the harbour, surrounding the basilica site and lining the canal which connects the harbour to the Fosse Traiana • More evidence for land reclaimation and property divisions at the confluence of the Tiber and Fossa Traiana.
  • 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_661 - Porto - 2005
    Due sondaggi ubicati rispettivamente all’esterno e all’interno delle mura tardoantiche di Porto presso l’ingresso dell’area archeologica (m. 9x9x1,70; 5x2,5x3,50) hanno riportato in luce un tratto della banchina E del porto di Claudio che in questo punto rientrava verso E formando un approdo. La struttura, in cementizio e senza rivestimento fin dall’origine, appare molto erosa sul lato S mentre verso W è spaccata in due da una profonda frattura. La sequenza esaminata all’interno delle mura ha messo in evidenza due magazzini costruiti tra fine IV e prima metà del V secolo sulla banchina portuale occupata fino ad allora solo da una canaletta. I due edifici si dispongono a N e a S di un asse che rispetta ancora l’impianto urbanistico di Claudio. Tra la metà e il terzo quarto del V secolo numerosi interventi isolano i magazzini dalla banchina mentre il passaggio intermedio viene sbarrato da una porta che impediva l’accesso in città dalla parte del mare. Subito dopo vengono costruite le mura, databili sulla base dei ricchissimi materiali rinvenuti nelle terre di colmatura dell’approdo antistante, all’ultimo quarto del V secolo. Esse si addossano al fronte esterno dei magazzini ma mantengono aperto il passaggio mediante una postierla che verrà murata durante la guerra gotica. Anche gli spazi retrostanti le mura vengono colmati da un enorme terrapieno che rialza il piano di calpestio di oltre 3 metri. Le fasi successive sono segnate dalla formazione di una piccola necropoli (15 tombe già scavate), che si estende a cavallo delle mura (metà VI-metà/fine del VII secolo) e dal restauro della cortina esterna che per la tecnica costruttiva è databile all’VIII-IX secolo. A questo intervento si riconnette la vasca per lo spegnimento della calce che si sovrappone alle sepolture nell’area antistante le mura. (Lidia Paroli)

Season Team

  • AIAC_295 - Porto di Claudio - 2004
    Lo studio geologico e geomorfologico ha fornito nuove informazioni sull’evoluzione del delta del Tevere negli ultimi 4000 anni circa, ed in particolare sul periodo compreso tra VII secolo a.C. e I secolo d.C. Nel periodo compreso tra VIII e V secolo a.C. il Tevere sfociava in mare attraverso due bocche ubicate nella zona del Porto di Claudio e Traiano. Il primo insediamento romano alla foce del Tevere, chiamato Ostia Tiberina, datato secondo la tradizione romana al VII secolo a.C., doveva trovarsi presso tale zona. La foce del Tevere migrò nella sua posizione attuale in un momento precedente al IV secolo a.C. Il porto venne costruito in una zona formata da sedimenti fluviali, ed i bacini portuali vennero scavati per lo più sugli stessi sedimenti. Il bacino del porto di Claudio, profondo fino a 8 m sotto il livello del mare, ha sfruttato anche la presenza di due rientranze della costa corrispondenti ad antiche bocche del Tevere. I carotaggi hanno fornito anche indicazioni sulle fasi di insabbiamento del porto. In base alle attuali conoscenze geologiche, nessuna delle ipotesi su forma e dimensioni del porto di Claudio è pienamente accettabile. Il porto comunque doveva avere due ingressi, di cui il principale posto a Sud-Ovest, il secondo verso Nord. (Carlo Giraudi, Cristiana Tata, Lidia Paroli)
  • AIAC_98 - Crypta Balbi - 2004
    In the southern Campus Martius the complex of the Crypta Balbi extends for about a hectare, in the area that includes the churches of S. Stanislao dei Polacchi and Sta. Caterina dei Funari. The complex consisted of a piazza with a double portico on three sides, annexed to the scaenae frons of the theatre built by Lucius Cornelius Balbus in 13 B.C. On its east side was found a nucleus of insulae reproduced on the marble Forma Urbis and still within the city block on which the site is located. On the east side of the portico was a monumental exedra transformed into a latrine during the Hadrianic rebuilding of the complex. This has now been excavated and may be visited. The excavations shed light on all the successive phases of occupation of this area of the city. After antiquity life continued in the area, with transformations and reuse of the monument, which was eventually occupied by the gardens of the monastery of Sta. Caterina. It gives an extraordinary testimony to the way in which Rome developed over the century within the confines of its own ruins. The Museum of Medieval Rome is laid out within the medieval and renaissance buildings which occupie the earlier porticoed building. Its opening concludes the first phase of the project of restoration and presentation of the entire insula, a project articulated as a functional sequence of excavation, restoration and presentation. The museum guides the visitor through the most significant phases of the monument, and allows access to the portico as well as to the adjacent porticus Minucia. (Laura Vendittelli)

Publication Authors