Index for 2021
- 519 - Andrea Fiorini - Luisa Pedico - Lorenzo Bonazzi - Antonio Curci. 2021. Isola di S. Nicola (Isole Tremiti, FG). Prima campagna di rilevamento e studio delle strutture archeologiche (2020) . This article describes the results of the first campaign of documentation of the archaeological evidence on the island of S. Nicola (Tremiti islands). This paper intends to acquire data on the archaeological potential of the islands to plan future re-search. The state of knowledge on the ancient population is rather incomplete and is based on old archaeological research. Thanks to this first campaign, it was possible to identify a structure known only from archive sources (a coastal military tow-er). Furthermore, new hypotheses have been advanced about the period of construction of the main archaeological elements of the island: the necropolis, the water basin, the cistern and the rustic cryptoporticus. These findings shed new light on the island’s history. The article closes with a series of historical problems that we will try to solve through a careful planning of fu-ture research (survey, geophysical prospecting, remote sensing and excavation). PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
- 518 - Gloria Olcese - Xabier Gonzàlez Muro - Michele Di Filippo - Angelo Pellegrino - Andrea Razza - Domenico Michele Surace. 2021. Prospezioni geofisiche e scavo della villa A di Dragoncello (Acilia, RM): la campagna del 2019 . The 2019 excavation campaign of Villa A in Dragoncello (Acilia) represents the continuation of the previous interventions, realised by the same team, in the years 2016 and 2017. The activities primarily included a series of geophysical surveys, carried out along the S and W sides of the Villa. Later, these surveys have been extended to the northern part of the park where the Villa is located, which had never been investigated archaeologically before, with the aim of verifying the pos-sible presence of ancient structures. During the 2019 campaign, excavations were carried out on the so called Ambiente V, which had been partially investigated in the previous two campaigns, and the Sector C, newly discovered, for a total area of 350mq. In particular, the investigations of the Ambiente V concerned the Northern part, for a total of 81mq, with the further aim of identifying an entrance and the intended use of the structure. In Sector C, investigated for 230mq, three basins, relating to at least three different chronological phases, and some other walls, were identified. These structures, perhaps intended for the production of wine, are particularly useful for the recon-struction of the production system of the villa and may open up a very interesting line of research relating to the ancient rural landscape of the territory of Ostia. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
- 517 - Maria Rosaria Borzetti - Alessio De Cristofaro - Andrea Di Napoli - Andrea Ricchioni. 2021. Sulla via Cornelia (III) Frammenti di paesaggi antichi dalla tenuta Pian del Marmo (RM) . Sulla via Cornelia (III) Frammenti di paesaggi antichi dalla tenuta Pian del Marmo (RM) PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
- 516 - Steven Ellis - Eric Poehler - Leigh Lieberman - Sarah Wenner - Alex Marko - Christopher Motz - Angela Trentacoste and Jane Millar Tully . 2021. New Excavations at the Punic-Roman city of Tharros, Sardinia. The University of Cincinnati, in collaboration with the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio (Cagliari), undertook its first season of archaeological excavations and fieldwork at the Punic-Roman city of Tharros, Sardinia, in the summer of 2019. This report outlines the preliminary results of this first season of activities, while also situating them within an overview of the broader interests of the project. The excavations were carried out in two different and relatively distant areas of the city: one of these areas is identified as a series of Roman shops (tabernae) to the south of a bath complex (Terme II), which had already been cleared down to (and through) the latest floor surfaces during the first systematic excavations of the city in the 1950s; the other area, further north toward the top of the Murru Mannu hill, had never been excavated, and thus provided an opportunity to both delineate urban structures and to investigate the contexts associated with their decline and abandon-ment. Our investigation of this second area revealed the remains of a Roman shop. The sequences of development for these retail properties revealed construction activities associated with a pre-Imperial period of occupation, with sizable structures adhering to a somewhat different urban configuration than that associated with the Roman era. Most of the surviving architec-ture, however, dates rather to a period of significant urban development in the 2nd century CE; it was at this time that we see the construction of shops in both areas. These shops underwent a series of structural developments until about the 5th centu-ry CE, when they appear to go out of use and were subsequently abandoned and ultimately dismantled for their building mate-rial to be used elsewhere. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
- 515 - Salvatore De Vincenzo – Sabatino Martello. 2021. Nuove indagini archeologiche nel foro di Volsinii (Bolsena/VT). During the new archaeological research project in Volsinii, the excavation in the area of the forum has revealed significant ar-chaeological data highlighting a new picture of the urban development of the city. The orthogonal road network near the forum and the forum itself were built at the beginning of the 1st century BC, probably when the city was granted the status of a mu-nicipium. However, the excavation at the basilica's foundation indicated that it was built in the Augustan period. The arrange-ment of the basilica on the short side of the forum is also a common arrangement of the forum in the Augustan period. Keywords: Volsinii, Roman Etruria, Forum, Basilica, Municipium PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
- 514 - Elena Chirico. 2021. Aquae Rusellanae: il complesso termale a Bagni di Roselle (GR, Italia). Bagni di Roselle (GR, Tuscany, Italy) were public baths built between the end of 1st AD and the early 2nd AD in the ager of Rusellae, a Roman colonia of the ancient Etruria. The baths were built on hot springs still active today and were carried out by the imperial administration. The emperor, as the new owner in the ager, was the promoter of some public buildings and among them the urban baths of Roselle and the suburban ones of Bagni di Roselle, the so called Aquae Rusellanae. The complex was built along an important “secondary” road connecting Rusellae with its ports and served as both a therapeutic center and a mansio. The strategic position ensured the occupation of the settlement until the Middle Ages as a cemetery, an occupation that continues today. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
- 513 - Tiziana Sgrulloni - Sara Paoli. 2021. L’area archeologica della via Nomentum-Eretum. This paper presents the archaeological area of Nomentum-Eretum, situated in the locality of Tor Mancina at Monterotondo (Rome), within the area of the CREA and Macchia di Gattaceca and Macchia del Barco Reserve. The excavations uncovered a stretch of Roman road and associated cemetery area. The section of road was part of the via Nomentum-Eretum constituting the continuation of the via Nomentana, which having exited the urban centre of Nomentum joined the via Salaria at Eretum PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
- 512 - Alessandra La Fragola. 2021. Necropoli di Monte Carru ad Alghero (SS). I primi indizi di culto (privato) al dio Telesforo riscontrati in Sardegna . An infant grave coming from the Roman necropolis of Monte Carru nearby Alghero – Sardinia, is analyzed in this paper. The area was probably pertaining to the ancient statio of Carbia. From the choroplastic figurines found among the grave goods the identification of the god Telesphoros, son of Aesculapios has permitted the analysis of this god in Sardinia. It allowed the identification of his sister Hygeia and to map the presence in the island of these two salvific deities together with their father. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
- 511 - Melanie Jonasch - Linda Adorno - Roberto Miccichè. 2021. Selinunte: Sondaggio nella stratigrafia del pianoro di Manuzza Rapporto preliminare . In the summer of 2020, the German Archaeological Institute carried out an excavation on Manuzza hill of Se-linunte, around 300 m to the north of the Greek agora. The aim was to investigate the stratigraphy in this par-ticular spot, where the city of the archaic and classical period was destroyed by the Carthaginians in 409 BC and subsequently transformed into an extra-urban space intended for different purposes. A trench of 5x6 m revealed well-preserved remains of a stone building dating to the second half of the 6th century BC, preceded by a construction of unknown appearance dating to the first half of the same century. The layers of destruc-tion associated with city’s conquest at the end of the 5th century were also clearly visible within the trench. In addition, the field campaign determined that limestone blocks from the archaic building were looted, possibly to construct the fortifications of the late 5th century on the acropolis and Manuzza hill. Our studies also re-vealed that new building activities took place during the first half of the 4th century, characterized by new walls and remains of what seems to be some production process. In the second half of the 4th century, a necropolis was established along the main street to the north. Five tombs of different types and dates were documented. After the resettlement of the inhabitants to Lilybaum in the middle of the 3rd century BC, the area under study was abandoned and subsequently devoted to agricultural use. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
- 510 - Liliana Giardino - Carlo De Mitri. 2021. Heraclea di Lucania in età imperiale e le tombe tardo antiche dalla Collina del Castello . The study of unpublished late antique burials, excavated in the 1970s on the Collina del Castello in Heraclea Lucana, offered the opportunity for a new overview of the history of this city in the Imperial Age, through a synthesis of the currently known archaeological documentation. The grave goods, of 7 out of 12 burials, allow us to date the tombs between the end of the 4th and 5th centuries AD. The ne-cropolis is to be attributed to the last inhabitants of the neighborhood in the central sector of the Colle del Castello. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
- 509 - Gianfranca Salis - Matteo Tatti. 2021. Gli interventi 2016-2017 nel sito di S’Arcu ‘e is Forros a Villagrande Strisaili (Ogliastra, Sardegna) Nuovi dati per la ricostruzione dell’età del Bronzo Finale e del Ferro nella Sardegna centro-orientale . The site of S’Arcu ‘e is Forros, in the Ogliastra (prov. Nuoro), is an interesting settlement that has been excavated since the 1980s. In 2015 a project carried out a conservative restoration and the complete excavation of the hut 2 with the discovery of a new stepped structure. In this paper are presented the results of this research. Nuragic period, Bronze age, Iron age, nuragic architecture, Nuragic Sardinia. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
- 506 - Silvia Polla - Barbara Maurina - Andreas Springer - Lukasz Polewski. 2021. Preliminary results of the analysis of the organic residues in amphorae from the alpine castrum at Loppio- S. Andrea (Trentino, Italy). During the archaeological excavations at the castrum Loppio-Sant’Andrea (Trentino, Italy), 1041 transport amphora sherds were collected. The amphora types recorded are quite numerous and indicate a provision of foodstuffs from different regions of the Mediterranean. The chronological range runs from the mid fifth century to the end of the seventh century AD. A select- ed sample of 10 amphorae belonging to the Types Keay LII, spatheion, LR1, LR2, LR4 and Samos Cistern Type have been analysed using GC-MS (gas chromatography-mass spectrometry) in order to characterize the organic residues absorbed in the ceramic material and to shed light on the transported (and/or stored) foodstuff. Keywords: Late Antiquity, Trade, Amphorae, Organic Residues analysis, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
- 508 - Letizia Ceccarelli – University of Cambridge. 2021. Nuovi dati di scavo sulla produzione di anfore in Umbria tra Tevere e Chiascio nel I e II secolo d.C. . In the light of the results of new excavations at Montelabate (PG), this paper discusses economic development in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD of the upper Tiber valley in territory of the municipia of Arna and Asisium on the left bank of the river Tiber and its tributary Chiascio. Following the centuriation and land distribution to the Octavian veterans, a system of villas and farms developed as well as kilns to support agricultural production, which was centred around wine. In this economic framework amphorae production was crucial, so this paper introduces new data on these containers manufactured in the industrial complex of Montelabate, where seven kilns have been excavated, with comparisons with other kiln production sites. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
- 507 - Antonia Serritella - Maria Luigia Rizzo. 2021. Un’officina metallurgica a Caselle in Pittari (SA). The excavation of 2019 in the Lucanian settlement of Caselle in Pittari (SA) led to the discovery of a metallurgical workshop, located in the center of the site, near the main plateia that crosses it from north to south. The building is perfectly integrated into the topographical system of the site but, at the current stage of the investigations, it is not yet clear whether this workshop is part of a house or is an exclusively artisanal structure. The discovery is particularly important since metallurgical workshops are generally indicted by extremely light traces, which do not allow the identification of all the spaces relating to the different phases of the processing cycle. In the case of Caselle in Pittari, although the survey area is very limited, it was possible to identify, in addition to many remains of iron slag, the bottom of a furnace and a casting basin with two terracotta crucibles. The expansion of the excavation should permit the acquisition of new elements to better understand the functional organization of the workshop and its relationship with the rest of the site. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
- 505 - Angela Rita Conte. 2021. La corrispondenza tra le fonti e i documenti materiali: l’esempio della Via Laurentina . In the central reservation between the dual carriageways of via di Acqua Acetosa Ostiense, near the modern overpass of via Cristoforo Colombo, archaeological investigations revealed the ancient passageway of Via Laurentina. It is located in the basin of the Fosso di Vallerano where the alluvial valley lead to the volcanic area of the Colli Albani. The field inves-tigations revealed the best approach used by the Romans in building the road, overcoming the morphological obstacles of this territory like hills, plateaus and alluvial valleys. Also the proximity of the river with its floods led the repair of the Roman road up to five times, dating from the late Republic to the 3rd Century AD. The excavation established the exact relationship between the climate events, described by the ancient authors, and the alluvial deposits that covered the road levels. Also the stratigraphy revealed evidence of the road works made by the Roman Government for the consu-lar road network maintenance. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
- 504 - F. Mollo - V. Casella - A. Laino - M. Puglisi - M. Sfacteria. 2021. Le indagini 2018 e 2019 del DICAM dell’Università degli Studi di Messi-na a S. Gada di Laino Borgo (CS). The site of S. Gada (Laino Borgo, CS) is located along the upper course of the Lao-Mercure valley, in the area of the Pollino National Park. Between June and July 2019 the DICAM of the University of Messina carried out an excavation in the southern area of the site, where previous investigations had highlighted a vast and very dense range of pottery and stone blocks. The results of the excavations allowed us to hypothesize the presence of a large settlement with a life that spans from the second half of the 6th century BC to the 3rd century BC. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
- 503 - Dario D’Orlando. 2021. La fase romana e altomedievale del nuraghe San Pietro di Torpè: nuovi dati dall’area archeologica (Nuoro, Sardegna). This is a first work of synthesis of new data along a revision of some well-known elements of the ar-chaeological area of nuraghe San Pietro and its surroundings. Thanks to a series of excavation campaigns conducted by the Soprintendenza Archeologica di Sassari e Nuoro from 1973 to 1988 is now possible to hypothesize a reconstruction of the life of the site during the Roman and Late An-tique phases, thanks to the recovery of the stratigraphic features and the archaeological material. This paper delineates a new perspective on San Pietro’s archaeological site comprehending the nu-raghe and the enigmatic building located 50 meters from the protohistoric monument. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
- 502 - Alfonso Forgione - Roberto Campanella - Enrico Siena. 2021. Gli impianti metallurgici di Campo Santa Maria ad Amiternum: indicatori della destrutturazione della città antica e dei suoi spazi tra V e VI secolo d.C. . During the 2019 excavation campaign, in the archaeological site of "Campo Santa Maria" in Amiternum, in some rooms belonging to the imperial age plant, originally intended for domestic and service roles (Building F, Period III), consistent traces of metallurgical and metal activities have been found, ascibable to the reconversions of use of the spaces, that took place during the 5th-6th century. During the construction of baptistery in the episcopal complex, the area in front was used for the realization of some forges, useful to recycling metal belonging to the factories, that persist in the area. The site, therefore, is part of the very widespread hystorical cases in late ancient Italy, attribuitable to the reuse and systematic dispossession of public or pri-vate buildings, indicative of a process of deconstruction of the ancient city. The site of Campo S. Maria in Amiternum, un-like other areas of the peninsula, offers a different overview because the area, affected by the aforementioned expola-tions, was at the same time the scene of new building events which, shortly thereafter, would have constituted a new centripetal pole for the city being redefined. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
- 501 - Fabio Fabiani - Stefano Genovesi - Salvatore Basile - Antonio Campus - Alberto Caroti - Ludovica Galli - Gloriana Pace - Filippo Sala - Germana Sorrentino - Emanuele Taccola . 2021. Pisa Progetto Suburbio: l’Area Scheibler La campagna di scavo 2020 . The Area Scheibler, located in the Western outskirts of Pisa, has been the site of discoveries and rescue excavations since the 1980s. These testified to the long-lasting history of this sector of the ancient suburb – formerly crossed by the Auser river – from the Iron Age to the Early Middle Age, with a consistent Roman phase. The 2020 campaign was the first planned stratigraphic excavation to take place on this site. It was carried out in order to verify the hypothesis that a villa existed on the site and to define both the chronology and the nature of the human set-tlement in the area. We have thus been able to investigate a complex stratigraphic sequence: the walls and the very well-preserved floor of a farmhouse can be dated back to the Late Republican period. This building was deliberately abandoned during the early decades of the Imperial period, when a new compound with huge walls and a brick, well-developed drainage system was constructed. Between the 3rd and the 4th centuries AD more floods caused the partial destruction of the building. During the 7th century AD a new structure in perishable building materials associated withTunisian fine table ware and amphorae and soapstone cooking pots marked a new occupation of the site, which was finally destroyed by a further al-luvial event. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
- 500 - Christy Schirmer – D. Alex Walthall – Andrew Tharler – Elizabeth Wueste – Benjamin Crowther – Randall Souza – Jared Benton – Jane Millar . 2021. Preliminary Report on the 2018 Season of the American Excavations at Morgantina: Contrada Agnese Project (CAP) . In its sixth season, the American Excavations at Morgantina: Contrada Agnese Project (CAP) continued archaeolog-ical investigations inside the House of the Two Mills, a modestly-appointed house of Hellenistic date located near the western edge of the ancient city of Morgantina. This report gives a phase-by-phase summary of the significant dis-coveries from the 2018 excavation season, highlighting the architectural development of the building as well as evi-dence for the various activities that took place there over the course of its occupation. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
- 499 - Antonella Coralini - Francesca Ortali. 2021. Iscrizioni in contesto: Pompei, insula IX 8. This article presents the results of a study in context of the wall inscriptions at Pompeii, focusing on the insula I 8. By using a palimpsestic approach, adopted also, for the insula II 4 (Praedia Iuliae Felicis) by Christopher Parslow as well, we analysed with an integrated way not only the epigraphic category of the inscribed documents, tituli picti and graffiti, discovered during the nineteenth-century excavations (1879-1880), but also their topographical distribution and their re-lationship with places, things ad people. In this contribution some cases-study exemplifies the informative potential of the reading-in-context method: it allows to investigate, starting from the content and the position of the texts, what relation-ship they had with the surrounding environment and what clues they can offer to rebuild its social life. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
- 498 - Patrizia Basso - Valeria Grazioli - Sabrina Masotti - Jessica Mongillo - Marcella Giulia Pavoni - Marina Scalzeri - Elisa Zentilini . 2021. Roman Cemeteries in Gazzo Veronese (VR) along the via Claudia Augusta . The paper presents the results of archaeological research carried out during 2014 and 2018 by the University of Verona in Gazzo Veronese, a small town on the plains south of Verona. In a previous issue of this journal we presented the Roman road brought to light in the same territory and interpreted as the Claudia Augusta (see FOLDER 2016, 370). In this article we are presenting the data for two cemeteries, dated between the first century BCE and the middle of the second CE, discovered along this road, addressing the questions that the archaeological findings raise for the historical analysis from the point of view of settlement and demography. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
- 497 - Attilio Mastrocinque – Fiammetta Soriano . 2021. Indagini archeologiche nell’area della “Domus del Mitreo” di Tarquinia: campagne di scavo 2016-18 con documentazione tridimensionale. The University of Verona has been excavating the “Domus del Mitreo” since 2016. It falls within the area of the Civita di Tarquinia. Three years of excavation revealed forty rooms of a large building. They spread over five natural terraces sloping eastward. The stratigraphic sequence runs from the 6th century BCE to the early 7th century CE. The preliminary analysis of the stratigraphy has identified six periods of construction and occupation. In Periods I and II (6th to 5th century BCE and 4th to 3rd century BCE) there are traces of the earliest frequentation of the site and the construction of the first masonry buildings. In Period III (end of the 3rd to mid 1st century BCE) new masonry walls are built, mainly in a “chessboard” pattern. This period defines spaces, rooms, and courtyards. A major building programme takes place between the second half of the 2nd and mid 1st century BCE. New rooms are built and paved with decorated floors. This continues into Period IV (late 1st century BCE to 1st century CE). During Period V many of the previous rooms are divided into smaller rooms (2nd to 3rd century CE). There are traces of workshop activity. From Period VI (mid 4th to early 7th century CE) the domus changes its appearance. This probably occurred following an earthquake. This leads to a gradual abandonment of the site during the early 7th century CE. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
- 496 - Viviana Cardarelli - Alessio De Cristofaro - Antonio F. Ferrandes - Rosita Oriolo - Ramon Simonetti - Alessandra Vivona . 2021. Sulla via Cornelia (II) Tracce di produzione agricola (III/inizi II sec. a.C.) e cava di pozzolana (I sec. a.C./I sec. d.C.) in via di Selva Candida 18 . The excavation, preliminary to the verification of the archaeological presence in a new building area, led to the discovery of remains of agricultural activities (late III – early II century BC), and a pozzolana quarry (I century BC-I century AD). The archaeological evidence relates to a productive settlement (villa?) located along the ancient via Cornelia. The issue also presents a comprehensive analysis of the ceramic contexts. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
- 495 - Andrea Raffaele Ghiotto - Giulia Fioratto - Guido Furlan. 2021. Il teatro romano di Aquileia: lo scavo dell’aditus maximus settentrionale e dell’edificio scenico . The paper presents the results of the last two campaigns of investigation in the Roman theatre of Aquileia. Discov-ered in 2015, the 95 meters wide building has been excavated through a series of trenches allowing the reconstruc-tion of most of the cavea. During the years 2018-19 the excavation moved to the core of the building, allowing a first reconstruction of its northern access and basilica, of the orchestra and of the scene building, with its stage and scaenae frons. In addition to architectural data, the new investigations allow us to sketch in some detail the evolution of the theatre from its construction to its reuse and, eventually, abandonment and dismantling. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
- 494 - G. M. Crothers - J.R. Jansson - J.E. Knapp - P.A.L. Crestani - P. Mazzaglia - P. Visonà edited by Paolo Visonà . 2021. University of Kentucky and Langara College archaeological investigations at località Coculédi, contrada Bregatorto, and in the hinterland of Antonimina (Reggio Calabria) in 2017-2019. Due campagne di prospezioni geofisiche e saggi di scavo in località Coculédi e in contrada Bregatorto, due siti contigui ubicati sul margine orientale della Dorsale Tabulare tra Jonio e Tirreno, alla quota di 980 m s.l.m. e a 14 km di distanza dal- la costa jonica, hanno accertato la presenza di un grande edificio e di una fortificazione rurale attribuibili a Locri Epizephyrii. L’edificio in località Coculédi, esteso su un’area di c. 600 m², venne costruito verso la fine del VI secolo e fu distrutto e ab- bandonato prima della metà del V sec. a.C.; le sue funzioni non sono ancora definibili. La fortificazione in contrada Brega- torto, coprente un’area di oltre 1900 m², fu occupata dagli inizi del V secolo fino al III sec. a.C.; in essa si individua il princi- pale punto di controllo del percorso di collegamento più diretto da Locri ai centri di Métauros e Medma sul versante tirreni- co meridionale. L’identità culturale locrese di entrambi i siti si evince anche dall’evidenza dei rinvenimenti ceramici, che tro- vano stretti confronti in ambito locrese. Altri tre siti contigui con materiali di età greca (un probabile insediamento rurale e due posti di vedetta) sono stati identificati presso Monte S. Mauro, lungo il percorso in direzione di contrada Bregatorto proveniente dalla costa jonica. Questa concentrazione di siti ai margini della chora e l’esistenza di un sito fortificato in una posizione strategica sulla Dorsale Tabulare documentano un’organizzazione del territorio locrese e un sistema di controllo della viabilità interna fin dall’età tardo arcaica. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet
- 493 - Rebecca K. Schindler - Stefano Spiganti - Giampiero Bevagna - Pedar W. Foss. 2021. Report on the Excavations of the Gioiella-Vaiano Villa 2016-2019. Since 2015, the Trasimeno Archaeological Project has been investigating a Roman villa located between the localities of Gioiella and Vaiano in the territory of Castiglione del Lago. A preliminary surface survey of the site (2015) indicated that the villa was occupied from the 2nd century B.C. through the 3rd century A.D. While there is extensive evidence for an Etruscan presence in the region, the Gioiella-Vaiano Villa is the first Roman period site to be scientifically investigated. Of particular interest is understanding the changing role of the villa in the economic and social life of Central Italy from the mid- Republican to the late Imperial periods. Four seasons of excavation (2016-2019) has revealed a bath house with a partially preserved hypocaust system and a monumental nymphaeum with a water basin and walls decorated to look like the interior of a cave. Although systematic analysis of the finds has not yet been completed, preliminary observations indicate imported objects (e.g. decorative mar- bles and amphora) suggesting that in the early Imperial period the owners of the villa were wealthy and had access to net- works outside of Central Italy. Several brick stamps have been recovered with the name L.ATALLIANI, which may repre- sent an owner of the villa in the early Imperial period. It appears at least during the first centuries A.D. the villa served as a locus for economic production as well as for the display of social status and power. PDFpermalinkRecord Sheet