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Series Number
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314
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Title
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A Forgotten Roman Settlement in the Veneto.
University of Kentucky Geoarchaeological Investigations
at Tezze di Arzignano (Vicenza, Italy) in 2012
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Date of Publication
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2014
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Abstract
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The results of a geophysical survey at località Valbruna near Tezze di Arzignano (VI), in Italy’s western Veneto, cast new light on a Roman site that has never been systematically investigated. Conspicuous remains of houses possibly belonging to a large Roman settlement were uncovered in this area in 1795 and 1882 after major river floods. Among a series of buried anomalies revealed by gradiometer and GPR data, a rectangular wall-like feature (corresponding on the surface with a cluster of roof tiles and mosaic tesserae) has been interpreted as a portion of a Roman building. Another significant anomaly has been tentatively identified as an ancient roadway. Several small, pit-like anomalies found at a lower depth than these installations have affinities with prehistoric features but cannot be conclusively explained without further testing. There are indications that this building, whose size and functions could not be determined, may have been located near a burial ground outside the main settlement. The dating of the pottery recovered from the survey area suggests that the site was continuously occupied from the final phase of the late Iron age until the 3rd century A.D.
