This was the fifth campaign of excavations in the territory of Gazzo V.se – locality of Ronchetrin as part of the GaVe Project (Indagini archeologiche a Gazzo Veronese – Verona). New trenches were opened and those opened in 2014 and 2017 were extended with the aim of defining the extension and dating of the funerary areas situated along both sides of the via Claudia Augusta, identified during part campaigns.

This year work took place on the private field that was investigated between 2015-2017 and the one immediately to the east (three trenches were opened which showed the continuation of the eastern funerary area to the north and confirmed its southern edge). In the field north of the latter six trenches were opened that made it possible to define the extension of the eastern necropolis and the edges, apart from the north one, of the western necropolis. These were a series of perpendicular transects, which in two cases intersected the road, further clarifying its line and the extension of the lateral ditch.

A mechanical digger was used to remove the agricultural soil down to the sands of the rise beyond the lateral ditch of the Roman road, cut by agricultural activity. The removal of the agricultural level immediately revealed the presence of numerous cremation burials, 22 of which were chosen for excavation. In emptying the burials the position of the grave goods and bones was carefully documented and the earth from the pyre collected (distinguished according to its position with respect to the burial). Bones and vegetal remains were recovered from the floatation of this soil for palaeo-botanical and osteological analyses.

The 2018 excavations revealed 151 funerary contexts in the eastern necropolis, some of uncertain ritual as it was impossible to excavate all burials. Of those that were recognisable 76 were in graves, 21 in tile coffins (one in brick), two single box tombs made of imbrices, 12 box tombs with double imbrices or a cappuccina, including one with imbrices on both short sides and a libation tube, and another with half an amphora on one of the short sides. The density of the burials was similar to that documented in previous years (c. 1 tomb every 3.5 m2. Here, the burials were also parallel to the road – which therefore provided a focal point in the rural landscape for use as a funerary area – up to a maximum of c. 16 rows documented in the northernmost sector, where the entire extension of the cemetery from east to west has been uncovered, over a length of 35 metres.

Taking into consideration the data from the preceding campaigns, it was possible to determine the overall extension of this eastern funerary area (c. 4000 m2) and to suggest, based on the density of the burials in the 2015-2018 excavation data applied to the entire area, the presence of c. 1000 funerary contexts, according to a calculation that is however necessarily approximative.

The arrangement of the burials does not seem to reveal groups that are well-defined and separated by pedestrian access to the various spaces in the necropolis. However, the partial nature of the investigated area together with the absence of the ground surfaces of the period do not make it possible to go any further with this interpretation.
The finds study confirmed an overall dating of the 1st century A.D. for the burials, with a few cases just slightly earlier (between the late 1st century B.C. and the first half of the 1st century A.D.) and some later examples dating to the 1st-2nd century A.D.

As regards the western necropolis, already investigated in 2014 and 2017, its perimeters were identified/confirmed except for the northern one. The southern edge was situated in correspondence with the burial in a sawn amphora already identified in 2014, to the west it was just a few metres from the edge of the road’s lateral ditch. Therefore, this necropolis was much smaller than the eastern one, with a lower density and characterised by a single row of burials aligned along the road. Overall, considering the excavations in previous years, 5 burials were in graves, 2 in tile cassette and 2 in sawn amphora.
These burials also seem to date generically to the 1st century A.D., more probably to between the late 1st century B.C. and the first half of the 1st century A.D., however the finds study is still in progress.

In short, in addition to the already-known layout of the road, which follows an irregular line in order to make use of the sandy humps, thanks to the 2018 excavations the characteristics of the two funerary areas and the two ditches flanking the road were defined. The eastern ditch was a maximum of 13 m wide, where the road crossed the low land, and gradually narrowed as it continued towards the south-east until it became only 1.70 m wide and 0.75 m deep, which is coherent with the minor need for drainage due to the road’s higher position. The most unusual and interesting evidence is substantially homogeneous chronology of such a large number of burials, the suggested number is about 1000, within the space of just over one century. Such a quantity of burial contexts together with those identified during the years of surface survey along the road and about thirty funerary monuments reused in the territory’s churches, means thought should be given to the settlement organisation at Gazzo Veronese and the possibility that a vicus existed here.