Season Team

• AIAC_2521 - Sinagoga - 2011
  The five trenches (= T) excavated in 2011 (T18b Extension, T22-T25) revealed a greater number of surfaces and more sealed loci than all other excavation seasons combined. T18b (2009) was located north of IV.17.1 facing the Via Severiana. In 2011, we reopened the western end of this trench and extended it to the north (T18bE) to explore the relationships among the synagogue building, the pavements from T18b, and the Via Severiana. T18bE in 2011 raised more questions than it answered. The individual layers of pavement, so clearly defined in the north balk of the 2009 trench, extended north a short distance before disappearing into a thicker matrix of pavement, the west side of which contained a circular pit cut with a round raised center (the whole resembling the impression of a car tire). It may have been a base for a mile marker for the Via Severiana or part of a later construction for a utilitarian use. T22 was placed at the NE corner of IV.17.2, adjacent to the entrance to the building to discern the relationship of the foundation of the western porch wall to the main building structure. We excavated several sealed surfaces and uncovered the remains of a reticulate wall built along the exterior of the western porch wall of Building 2. We also uncovered a pit dug along this reticulate wall, through all of the pavements, into which amphorae had been set. This could represent a late antique storage area. T23 was placed in IV.17.2, Room 10, in the southern area of the space between Building 1 and Building 2, in order to ascertain the relationship between these buildings. This area had been only partly excavated by Floriani Squarciapino. We uncovered the remains of a floor surface that had been partially disturbed by previous excavations (perhaps an impluvium), below which we found a drain that ran south before turning sharply west. This drain post-dates both the eastern wall of Building 2 and the southern wall of Room 10. Below the level of the eastern wall of Building 2 we uncovered an earlier foundation running at a different angle from the existing wall; it appears to be on the same line as the walls of the nymphaeum to the south. T24 is located within Rooms 15 and 16 of Building 1, in an area only partly excavated in the 1960s. We discovered 4 floor levels containing charred pottery and carbonized remains indicative of cooking. The lowest excavated level was a uniformly compacted dirt surface, which yielded a Vespasianic quadrans (67-77 CE), but ceramic evidence suggests a date of the second century CE or later. T25 was located immediately south of IV.17.2. This area had been disturbed and some ancient foundations destroyed by the construction of the fence along the modern highway. We found that the foundation of the southern wall of the nymphaeum was shuttered, not poured in to the sand. We also uncovered part of an east-west drain in the western portion of the trench.
• AIAC_2521 - Sinagoga - 2012
  The 2012 season marked our final large-scale excavations at the synagogue. Nine trenches (=T) were excavated in areas at least partially undisturbed by the 1960s campaigns in order both to better understand the stratigraphy of the present buildings and to explore evidence of earlier structures on this site. T27, located in Room 4 of IV.17.2, also extended 2.0 meters outside the west doorway. The soil outside the building was disturbed down to the level of ground water, but below topsoil in Room 4 was a mosaic floor (unexcavated, pending conservation). T29, located between IV.17.2 and IV.17.1, continued the examination of the western foundation uncovered in T23 (2011). Room 18 of IV.17.1 contained three trenches, each of which revealed a partially preserved cocciopesto surface below the topsoil. T32 was located in the SW corner. Its western wall was constructed on the cocciopesto floor, but the southern wall was deeply bedded. T31A was located in the middle of Room 18 extending from the northern wall. The foundation of the northern wall consists of a lower pour (an earlier building phase) and an upper pour (later). The upper foundation is integral with a N-S foundation, connected to another E-W foundation (possibly for low walls or for floor support). T31B extended from the west of T31A, revealing features associated architecturally with the lower level foundation of the northern walls, including a step and part of a reticulate wall. T34 was located in the southeast corner of Room 17 of IV.17.1. Two surfaces were uncovered: a cocciopesto surface below topsoil with a hole surrounding the opening of a decapitated Dressel 20 amphora. This surface rested on 0.75 meters of sand (into which the amphora was set), below which was a partially preserved cocciopesto floor. The trench exposed the foundations of the east wall which showed a clear seam, suggesting the mixtum A east wall is secondary. The lower cocciopesto floor was probably associated with an earlier structure represented by the lower foundation. In T30, located in Room 17 of IV.17.1, five distinct phases were identified. The lowest floor level (Phase 1) ran 0.60 meters below the latericium bedding course of the eastern wall, and the foundations were plastered. In the north, stairs were uncovered, ascending from the west in Phase 2 before the construction of the western wall. In the 3rd phase, two large amphorae were set into the floor (storage or latrine?). Phase 4 contained a latrine/drain construction in the space of the southern doorway (later covered by Phase 5, a floor covering all of Room 17). T33 was located in the open area east of IV.17.1. The predominant feature was a well-packed ground-raising fill containing numerous finds dating from 1st-2nd c. CE. T28, located to the north of the synagogue, revealed three layers of pavement spanning from the 3rd to the 6th cent. CE. T18BE (2011) was reopened to excavate beneath the robbed-out area of the Via Severiana. There were several preparation layers below the highway but no evidence of an earlier road.