Roman archaelogy

This excavation was carried out by the Department of Archaeology of the University of Siena (Daniele Manacorda, Emanuele Papi and myself) in collaboration with the Soprintendenza of Umbria. Our intervention was prompted by the discovery of ancient structures during the excavation of a trench in a private land. The site lays along the Via Flaminia, 5 km past Narni, in the direction of Terni. There were two different structures, a mausoleumand a balneum, 26 meters distant from each other. Both were robbed of their standing structures and of their decorative elements, probably on several occasions between the 5th century and the medieval period. Of the mausoleum only a row of travertine blocks and the interior concrete core remained. This formed the basement of an altar or aedicule tomb built between the 1stcentury BC and the 1stcentury AD belonging to a prominent family who probably owned a fundus in the surrounding area. The balneum was built between the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th century AD, and it was probably connected with the cursus publicus. The structure was built after about a century of abandonment atop an older building dating to the second half of the Ist-2nd century AD and perhaps already related to the road and to the provision of services for travellers.

This study concerns a fresco discovered during the excavations between 1999 and 2006, which brought to light the Roman theater of Sessa Aurunca in Campania. It is one of the largest and most magnificent theaters in Italy in Roman times. The monument was built by Augustus and widely restored by Matidia Minore making extensive use of colored marble from the most important quarries of the ancient Mediterranean. Among the many finds found during the excavations, a fresco was found in excellent condition, representing the Genius Theatri. The fresco is composed of a white background on which stands out the figure of Genius, rendered in perspective with the cornucopia in his left hand while, with his right hand, he holds a plate from which he pours a liquid onto a brazier. On the sides of the Genius represented in the act of carrying out a libation, two serpents are depicted wrapped in wide turns. The scene appears borrowed from the representation of the Lararia known in the Pompeian sphere. In this study, a broad discussion deals with the possible derivations of the Genius Theatri iconography from the representation of domestic Lararia and from the Genius Pater Familias. In any case it remains one of the most important representations of this genre and certainly the only one that has come to us from the Roman world.

The archaeological survey of Piazzale Napoleone I revealed an articulated stratigraphic sequence spanning from the 1st century BC to the 20th century. A late Republican garden equipped with a cistern was replaced in the 1st century BC by a massive system of substructures and an elegant private bath. The building was modified several times and a century after its construction lost its use as a thermal bath in favour of more utilitarian functions. A cryptoporticus was added during the mid-Imperial period. As early as the 4th century AD the building was abandoned and largely demolished, while the surrounding area was left as a garden. Two relevant ceramic contexts are also represented.

All’inizio del Novecento, la città antica di Ostia era poco conosciuta, perché i fondi pubblici destinati agli scavi erano pochissimi: a quell’epoca, l’attenzione era focalizzata sugli scavi di Pompei e del Foro Romano. Ostia era trascurata dal mondo scientifico e dal Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione fino all’arrivo di Vaglieri alla direzione degli scavi (1907-1913). I primi lavori eseguiti sotto la sua direzione rimasero però limitati, perché i fondi rimanevano insufficienti. Nello stesso periodo, il Ministero dei Lavori Pubblici cercava di ultimare la bonifica dell’agro romano, quella del Fiume Morto in particolare, in previsione del progetto di sviluppo marittimo di Roma promosso dal comitato Pro Roma Marittima diretto dall’Ing. Paolo Orlando, che cercava di costruire alla foce del Tevere un porto marittimo per la capitale del regno d’Italia. A tale scopo, i promotori del progetto facevano riferimento alla storia antica di Ostia e Roma, che fungeva da modello nel loro discorso di promozione presso il mondo politico. Ne risultò una prima convenzione tra il Ministero dei Lavori Pubblici e quello della Pubblica Istruzione finalizzata a scavare Ostia e colmare Fiume Morto. Una nuova convenzione fu attuata dal Paribeni a gennaio 1915 nel contesto della sistemazione dell’area di Ostia Nuova che l’entrata in guerra il 24 maggio non interruppe. In breve, la città antica di Ostia e gli scavi eseguiti negli anni 1908-1924 ebbero un ruolo non trascurabile nello sviluppo del progetto di nuovo porto di Roma sia nel discorso dei promotori, sia nell’andamento dei lavori e tale ruolo ebbe dialetticamente conseguenze notevole sullo scavo. Il mio contributo cercherà di evidenziare questo ruolo a partire dalla documentazione conservata presso l’Archivio Centrale dello Stato di Roma e dai testi redatti da Paolo Orlando.

The present contribution illustrates the results of the archaeological investigations carried out between 2002 and 2004 by Sovrintendenza Capitolina in the area of Casina Valadier, during the restoration of the neoclassic caffeàus of the beginning of XIX century. It has been shown that the area has been continuously inhabited from the late Republic period to about V-VI century A.D. During the Augustean period the top of the hill was stabilized by constructing terraces supported by a long
wall in opus reticulatum connected to a large holding tank, on a part of which Valadier built the modern edifice. The tank has been deeply studied recognizing that it received water from the Aqua Marcia aqueduct. During the late imperial period a series of washbasins was placed against the tank to be used during the first stages of tanning.

This study provides new evidence of the presence of an ancient Roman road in correspondence to a paleobeach ridge now submerged in the Venice Lagoon (Italy). New high resolution underwater seafloor data shed new light on the significance of the Roman remains in the lagoon. The interpretation of the data through archive and geo-archaeological research allowed a three-dimensional architectural reconstruction of the Roman road. The presence of the ancient Roman road confirms the hypothesis of a stable system of Roman settlements in the Venice Lagoon. The study highlights the significance of this road in the broader context of the Roman transport system, demonstrating once more the Roman ability to adapt and to handle complex dynamic environments that were often radically different from today.

This study provides new evidence of the presence of an ancient Roman road in correspondence to a paleobeach ridge now submerged in the Venice Lagoon (Italy). New high resolution underwater seafloor data shed new light on the significance of the Roman remains in the lagoon. The interpretation of the data through archive and geo-archaeological research allowed a three-dimensional architectural reconstruction of the Roman road. The presence of the ancient Roman road confirms the hypothesis of a stable system of Roman settlements in the Venice Lagoon. The study highlights the significance of this road in the broader context of the Roman transport system, demonstrating once more the Roman ability to adapt and to handle complex dynamic environments that were often radically different from today.

El objetivo de nuestro trabajo es la comprobación de las relaciones del Bajo Bidasoa con el Valle Medio del Ebro durante la época altoimperial.
Para ello nos valemos de la cerámica de paredes finas engobada recuperada en Santa María del Juncal (Irún ),cuyos centros de producción se localizan en este sector del Valle del Ebro. Conjugando su dispersión geográfica, que hasta ahora parecía ceñirse al entorno
inmediato de los centros productores, y la red viaria principal y sus enlaces, observamos que esta última propicia la integración de un núcleo costero y marginal en el circuito comercial de un área interior.

The object of our work is to verify the relationship between the lower Bidasoa and the mid valley of the Ebro during the early imperial period. In order to do this we use the fine wares engobed pottery found in Santa María del Juncal (Irún), whose production centres are found in this area of the Ebro Valley. Piecing together its geographic route, which until now seamed to have been restricted to the manufacturing centres immediate surroundings and the main road network and its connections, we observe that the latter favours the integration of a coastal and marginal nucleus in the commercial circuit of an inland area in full economic expansion.