2006 Field-season results

This stage of the project has been principally funded by the British Academy, with additional support from the Università “La Sapienza”. Work has looked at three specific areas, in order to provide new elements to our understanding of the villa.

Archive work (A. Maiuro)

After Unification, the situation changes; archival material is abundant, for both archaeological interventions and for detailed information about individual finds. Three archival sources have been examined: the Archivio Centrale dello Stato (ACS), the Archives of the Soprintendenza (ASSS) – comprising Palazzo Massimo for the photographic material and Palazzo Altemps for the paper documentation – and finally that of the Soprintendenza Comunale per i Beni Archeologici: (ASSC), which comprises the photographic archive of Palazzo Braschi and the Archive at the Centrale Montemartini Museum.

Eufrosino dalla Volpaia – Map of the Camapagna Romana (detail) – 1547

These archives have been of variable use. Even though a volume called “Villa Gordiani” is recorded in the general register of the ACS, it could be located neither in 2004 nor 2007. Nor was there was any mention of the villa in the papers and notebooks of Guglielmo Gatti deposited in the ACS. The absence of both archive and published material for archaeological activity at the site during the first half of the twentieth century suggests the area was neither the object of scientific investigation nor even of casual finds.

Research into the archives of the ASSS included both the systematic study of the Registro Trovamenti (hereafter Reg. Trov.)and that of the Topographic archive. Research in the photographic archive revealed no relevant documentation. On the other hand, the ASSS contains unpublished documentation concerning the excavations made before 1945 – neither particularly numerous nor important – and on the excavations of the 1980s.

Finally, the ASSC contains all the archival collections that relate to the excavations of the 1950s and 60s. Both the Reg. Trov. and the Rapporti di Zona are highly important. The first provides a full accession register of ancient material ordered by date of acquisition, while the latter provides a diary written by the site’s guardians that recounts the progress of the excavations on an almost daily basis. It has also been possible to examine all of the reproductions of inscriptions and brick-stamps, documents that must be considered as a primary source as it is no longer possible to locate the materials to which they refer. Within the ASSC, the photographs record buildings and archaeological material at the moment of discovery and, if not particularly numerous, are of great value.

It is unfortunate, however, that there is no trace of the reports on the excavations of the 1950s and 60s. These should detail fieldwork and finds and would have been central to understanding decades of research on the site. A partial substitute for this lacuna can be found in the documentation gathered together and examined in the undergraduate thesis of Bongiorno, the product of a detailed topographical study carried out in the 1970s, at a time when the structures revealed by the excavations had not yet been reburied. In particular, his 1:20 plan of the site is today the sole documentation available which preserves the plan of the excavated buildings.

Geophysics survey (R. Witcher, P. Howard)

The modern layout of the site within a public park presents some difficulties in terms of a magnetometer survey. In some places, trees and street furniture impede the ability to walk systematic parallel transects, while park benches, rubbish bins, a children’s playground and the metal fences protecting the standing structures all produce strong magnetic signals which restrict the areas in which a magnetometer might be successfully used. Nonetheless, significant areas of open land are available. Attention was focused on those areas which allowed the largest contiguous blocks to be covered.

A survey grid was established and recorded with a Total Station. Basic mapping of the key features of the modern park, the standing structures, and topography were also recorded in order to create a simple but accurate plan within which to locate the geophysical results. Across the park, exposed patches of stone, brick and concrete bear witness to the shallow depth of archaeological deposits; these exposures were also mapped.

A series of 30x30m and 50x50m grid squares were laid out for the geophysical work, as could best fit within the available space. The survey was divided between the two halves of the park: to the north of the modern via Prenestina, the survey partially included the area subject to excavation by Colini et al. during the 1950s and subsequently reburied. Here, the survey was intended to (re-)locate these excavated structures and to extend into adjacent areas. In addition, a small area close to the mausoleum (Tor de’ Schiavi) and the circus basilica complex was also investigated. To the south side of the via Praenestina, there has been no known sub-surface investigation. A number of standing structures, including a large cistern, suggest either an extension of the main site or the presence of another site with similarly substantial hydraulic requirements. Geophysical survey offered the opportunity to establish the presence of buried structures in this area for the first time.

The survey used a Geoscan FM256 fluxgate gradiometer. Traverse lines were located 1m apart, with sample points at intervals of 0.25m along the traverses. The instrument was set to record at the 0.1 nanoTesla (nT) resolution.

The geophysical survey has identified extensive archaeological features well beyond the area known from Colini’s excavations and Bongiorno’s plan, including structures to the south of the via Praenestina. It is clear that the isolation of the extant structures is due to the demolition and loss of other buildings. A notable feature of the site is the strength of many of the magnetic anomalies observed. The results have not provided a coherent plan of a ‘Roman imperial villa’. Rather, the extensive evidence for activity across the site most probably relates to the full range of site use from the Roman period, through the site’s medieval usage, to the present. The interpretation of the functions and dates of these features is therefore not straightforward. Additional geophysical survey techniques, such as resistivity may be able to define more clearly the physical form of some structures; Ground Penetrating Radar might be a suitable technique for areas such as the football pitch to the north of the road. However, a study of excavated material such as the brickstamps, as well as new excavation, will be required for more detailed appreciation of the site’s chronology and function.

General map of the area	Results North of the via Praenestina	Results South of the via Praenestina

Stratigraphical analysis on the octagonal hall (F.Vallelonga)

The monumental complex around the Octagonal Hall presents particular problems for methods of stratigraphical analysis. The great height of the extant structures limits close visual analysis to only the lower sections, up to the first row of arcades. Analysis of the higher parts of the structure requires an alternative approach; here, photogrammetry has been used to obtain a graphical record.

The particular arrangement of the structure (with distinct interior and exterior elevations) makes a standard context numbering system impractical. The extant octagonal interior and its niches is not reflected in the building’s curving exterior, so it is impossible to apply a consistent numbering system for the two elevations. The particular problems of this structure therefore require use of context numbers in connection with architectural components (e.g. continuous walls, arches, vaults, etc.), restricted to the lower part of the structure, up to the level marked by courses of larger bricks.

Roman Period – Phase I - Construction of the cistern

Contrary to previous interpretations of this complex, the earliest element appears to be the rectangular cistern (Room 2; 10.45m x 8.85m) preserved on the east side of the Octagonal Hall (Room 1) and commonly dated to the fourth century. The earlier date of the cistern is demonstrated by the stratigraphical relationship between its west wall and the eastern wall of the Hall that blocks the pipe supplying water to the cistern.

Roman Period – Phase II - Construction of the Octagonal Hall

In Phase II, an eight-sided room (Room 1) was constructed. Entrances into the room were located through the north and south walls (only the north entrance survives). The east and west walls housed rectangular niches (only the eastern niche survives). On the remaining four walls, between each of the entrances and rectangular niches, was a semicircular niche.

On the basis of building techniques, Phases I and II were separated by only a short span of time. The date of Phase II Hall is generally considered to be either Diocletianic or Constantinian. The use of opera listata would suggest the latter is more probable, despite the quick succession of the two phases. A fourth century date is also supported by consideration of the preserved stucco decoration that is typical of that period.

Roman Period – Phase II - New building activities and intervention in the Octagonal Hall

In this phase, a rectangular room (Room 3), possibly a cistern, was added to the north-east side of the Hall. Additionally, a new entrance to the Hall was inserted in its north-west corner, although there is a lack of any definitive stratigraphical or chronological evidence to associate this new entrance with the rectangular structure.

Late Medieval Period – Phase IV - “Fortification”

Following a long period for which there is no evidence of architectural development, a series of buildings transformed the monument during the late medieval period. The developments which can be attributed to this phase are located in the northern part of the complex; access was either blocked or modified, and a narrow blind corridor constructed (Room 4; 9m long) defined by the northern wall of the Hall and a new wall built in small irregular stone blocks arranged in irregular courses.

Inside the Hall, a large cylindrical pillar was inserted. As well as these two new interventions, a substantial wall was built on top of the existing octagonal room, to heighten the complex.

Late Medieval Period – Phase V - Construction of the northern rooms

Later, though probably not much later, further transformations were made in the northern sector. Structures were built on the outside of Room 4 and to the north of Room 3. The walls (USM 208-209; length 1.75m, width 1.1m and length 3.05m, width 1.1m) directly abut the exterior of Room 4.

Post-medieval period – Phase VI - Collapse of the Octagonal Hall

The next phase is characterised by a series of spoliation events which largely define the current aspect of the complex. Inevitably, this removal of material means that chronological and stratigraphical evidence is lacking and it is only possible to suggest that these transformations took place between the mid-fifteenth century (when the term “casale” is replaced by “tenuta” in the archival material) and the time of Ligorio in the mid-sixteenth century.

Contemporary Period – Phase VII - Restoration and research

It was only during the nineteenth century that interest in the preservation of the complex developed.