Umbrian wall continued marble steps. Another important find in this area was much painted plaster. How are they related? When was the These fresco fragments formed a visi- wall built and what was its function? ble stratum 10 cm. thick resting on top Was there a relationship to the cistern, a of the tiled floor. possible source of the water that fed the bath? Could it have Conclusions formed an entry to the area of the bath, Our first year of excavation of the a transition from the locat- archaic wall produced many perplexing ed somewhere above and east of the surprises but also answers to some of baths? These are some of the questions our preliminary questions. We now we contemplated while approaching know that the wall turns in a NE direc- our first season of excavation. tion towards the Imperial age cistern Excavations and that it continues to the SE under the We opened two 2.5 m. square sheep path. We found an intriguingly quadrants, one at either end of the placed tiled floor built on and aligned exposed wall: the first at its NW end Fig. 3. Surface of a Roman cocciopesto floor paved with terracotta tiles, with the wall. We did not find a contin- between two of the stone points form- built into and against the archaic wall. uation of the stairway from the other ing a line perpendicular to the wall, the side of the sheep path. It may be that rossa were found. second, at its SE end where the wall 500 pottery sherds and 86 objects were we did not excavate deeply enough and disappeared under the sheep path. found. The layer was over a meter deep Our biggest surprise was uncov- it is buried beneath the floor. Another When we opened the first (NW) and yielded a mix of ceramic styles ered in our second quadrant at the SE hypothesis is that the floor was part of quadrant we hoped to determine fairly with dates ranging from Republican to end of the wall. In the area where we the stairway – perhaps a portico or cov- quickly whether or not the wall turned Late Imperial. Among the artifacts had thought we might find a continua- ered landing. The function and date of the corner and continued in a NE direc- were fragments of 15 oil lamps, a small tion of the marble stairway, we found the wall remain unclear as does its rela- part of a Roman floor in situ. Square tion toward the cistern. We had not bronze cap or bell, 3 bronze coins and tionship to the cistern, the baths, the terracotta paving tiles were laid in a bed anticipated the volume of artifacts we close to 100 fine glass shards. The stairway and the Via Flaminia. Further would uncover and which greatly nature of the pottery contributes to a of cocciopesto. This floor is aligned excavation should answer some of with the archaic wall and set against slowed our progress. We exposed an picture of domestic activity: fragments these questions and perhaps shed some and on top of the rocks of the wall; this almost 3m. long section of semi-polyg- of cooking pots, small bowls, mortaria light on the early Romanization of juxtaposition indicates that the floor onal wall here and determined that the and amphorae. Most of the fabric was . wall does turn a corner and run uphill impasto and ceramica comune includ- was of a later building date. It is narrow 1 U. Ciotti, San Gemini e Carsulae, towards the Imperial era cistern. ing many impasto rims of what we have (135 cm.) and its current exposed (Rome 1976) 16-17 In a charcoal rich layer deposited termed “pie-crust ware.” Additionally length is 140 cm. but it clearly contin- 2 against the newly exposed wall over 17 sherds of vernice nera and vernice ues under the sheep path toward the Ibid., 16 Searching for an ancient excavations. These came in the form of urban layout of the site, which has the work on the sanctuary of Iuno never been investigated before. Within city Gabina carried out by the Spanish the line of the city walls Gabii has a by Jeffrey Becker (Boston University) School at Rome and work on an extra- regularized layout consisting of main and Nicola Terrenato (University of mural sanctuary carried out by M. trunk roads that intersect with side Michigan) Guaitoli. But still the majority of the roads at regular intervals. In addition to urban center remains unexplored, and it the magnetometry, core samples were In the time of the Tarquins a treaty is there that the Gabii Project, under the taken across the site in order to assess was struck between Rome and the Latin direction of Nicola Terrenato of the the stratigraphic preservation and city of Gabii (Dion. Hal. Ant Rom. University of Michigan, will begin depth, data that shows a long-range of 4.58). The treaty was recorded on bul- major excavations in June 2009. occupation deposits that begin with the lock’s skin and displayed in the shrine The project began in 2007 with Iron Age. Magnetometry in process at the of Semo Sancus in Rome, where it was geophysical survey in the urban area of The Project plans large-scale and long- Gabii excavations, 2008. said to be still visible in the 1st c. BC. Gabii, aimed at discovering subsurface term excavations at the site in order to In spite of its ancient fame, the city of pursue important questions related to features and gauging the degree of about the project, please visit Gabii slowly vanished over time and the urban development of Gabii and archaeological preservation at the site. http://lw.lsa.umich.edu/kelsey/research/ has seen only limited and sporadic the phenomenon of planned urbanism The magnetometry survey results have Excavation/Gabii/ or http://lapisgabi- attention from archaeologists. In the in Central . To find out more revealed substantial evidence for the nus.blogspot.com/ 1790s the Scottish antiquarian Gavin Hamilton conducted a campaign of Jeffrey Becker is Managing Director of excavation at the site, discovering what the Gabii Project and Visiting Assistant was reportedly a public building from Professor of Archaeology at Boston which he recovered nearly 40 sculp- University. [email protected] tures that went initially to the collection of the Borghese family, although some Nicola Terrenato is Director of the were later taken to Paris by Napoleon. Gabii Project and Associate Professor th It would not be until the 20 century of Classical Archaeology at the that the site would see any systematic Area of Gabii excavations, 2008 University of Michigan. Page 14