Today the heavens opened, with an almost comic timing. Luke was giving a site tour to the whole team and had just reached the late Roman temple. He stood there speculating that it might be a temple to Hercules or Jupiter, as official personifications of late Roman pagan emperors. The skies darkened and thunder rumbled. It seemed that the thunderbolt would strike at any moment, as Luke discussed the details of where the cult statue would have stood. He was absolutely not tempted to mount the pedestal, despite the feelings of the onlooking team that a lightning strike might well lighten up the character of their director somewhat. The heavens did open however, and we all ran for cover in the adjacent vaulted room, until the sky cleared for a few more hours of digging.

We are hoping now that the rain has come digging will be easier. The dig is now reaching a climax, as we are reaching the best material in the last few days. So far things are going well, but it will take all of our strength to keep our nerve, when faced with changing circumstances this week, to finish the recording on time. We have started conserving inscriptions imprinted in reverse into the mortar and also have begun studying the mortar levels elsewhere. This work has allowed us to confirm that the mortar level of the forum paving really does cover over a Constantinian apse of the Forum Baths, giving us a clear terminus post-quem for the whole complex. Also the sondage by the façade, dug by Maria Chavez- Hoenes and Kelly Madigan has revealed that the great porticoed entrance to the forum cuts through a wall of the demolished baths under the forum, and that both cut an early road: the sequence is finally seems clear, after much confusion.

Luke Lavan 14/09/2009

On part of the palaestra portico is proving to be very rich in finds: a robbing trench which was cut into the mosaic during the middle ages to remove a lead water pipe. The water pipe itself is impressive – it survives in one section, against the wall.



In this trench we have uncovered painted wall plaster, coins and today a roman ring – in either jet or some other organic material, as it is very light. The stone, if there was one, is missing, and the ring was too small to fit the finger of diggers who tried. Ana Sanchez again provided valuable advice on how to conserve it, from her 20 years of experience excavating and conserving in Spain.



A second major discovery of the day was less archaeological – a family of snails living within the folds of the cloak of the Roman heroic statue at the centre of our forum. How on earth they managed to climb up there I do not know, and they will probably be waiting for autumn rains before descending again. Elsewhere on the plaza insects are more visible, from the numerous crickets to the occasional preying mantis. Such insects are often disturbed when we clean up new areas. Luke noticed a mantis whilst cleaning around the cistern area. This will continue tomorrow, as we try to get a photo mosaic of the forum cistern wall, which contains some re-used stone blocks. Lloyd has also been devegetating the late nymphaeum opposite the forum for survey, pruning back a tree which had obscured our view of the niches set in the structure, which once held statues, producing a façade similar to the Trevi fountain.

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Luke Lavan 13/09/2009br>

Work in the palaestra has increased in intensity, and a new level of detailed observation has been reached. It is now clear that the late repairs to the portico were not quite as rough as once thought. Today the brick piers inserted into the portico to support the columns seem quite ugly: rough emergency work done to prevent the roof from collapsing. However, we have observed that they were in fact once faced with marble – as a small part of the revetment survives. The back wall of the portico also had a marble veneer, but this seems to be early imperial. Elsewhere on the paving of the palaestra a late foundation has emerged for a statue base probably that cuts the early mosaic – clearly the whole square was redecorated in this period to serve as a public plaza.

Today we finally obtained access to the site depot – with just a week remaining. This has allowed our pottery specialist, Elizabeth Pamberg, to check our pottery from last year with a view to sorting out some dating evidence, and for Celine Murphy to start illustrating key small finds. Meanwhile Ana Sanchez is busy recording some of our wall plaster, which is concentrated in two deposits at present, one of which is along a late section of the back wall of the palaestra portico. After numerous problems, artefact analysis has finally got up to speed, though perhaps sadly a little too late for some of the key objectives of our current season.

Luke Lavan 11/09/2009

The ‘medieval’ section is now proving to be more confusing than ever, now that Kelly Madigan’s team have started digging the area. The shallow and poorly built medieval walls now appear to go very deep indeed and we are no longer sure of the date of the fill surrounding them, some of which pre-dates them, some of which post-dates them. In places the quite shallow, coming down onto a mortar floor after 30cm , whilst elsewhere the fill is as much as 1m thick, before coming down to a loose silty layer with few finds – we suspect it is the fill of another deep cistern. Alexandra Alvarez has revealed an unexpected doorway in the same area, with traces of a re-used lintel in the mortar. Clearly we are far from having a complete picture of the zone yet.

The portico of the forum is still producing a large quantity of finds from the topsoil: so many in fact that we have had to decide to ‘sample’ – ie throw a lot of it out. We hope to collect a more meaningful collection from the sealed foundation layers underneath the portico floor. There have been some especially good glass finds from this area. However, otherwise the finds team have been frustrated by problems at the depot. We are still unable to access the small finds from last year, although we have only one week to go. This will create real problems for us if it continues unfortunately, as we will not be able to date key layers. However, there is still much to be positive about: Lloyd Bosworth has produced an impressive photo mosaic of the forum walls, with the help of Eric Fries, whilst Paolo Maranzana has classified spolia discovered in the paving area.

Luke Lavan 10/09/2009

Today we had overcast weather for the whole morning. This set the Kent director Luke off into a wild panic : conditions were perfect for photography. Thus whole team was roped into the nasty job of ‘photo cleaning’ – brushing dirty rocks to you and me. A large cloud of dust rose above the site, through which Luke, perched on a pillar, tried to get a good shot of the medieval walls and other areas. The team worked at breakneck speed, until the whole area was done. The final photographs were taken in the very final seconds, as the last bit of cloud disappeared and our Mediterranean sun returned.

The photography has allowed us to refine our understanding of the stratigraphic sequence of the site, and to confirm observations that were being made on the ground by diggers. The medieval section now has a series of mini-trenches in it, designed to work out the sequence of relationships between walls and layers found in the area: this will allow us to excavate them in the correct order (youngest first). Already a hole has revealed that one of the brick walls is 13 courses deep, and much better built than we had assumed. It also seems likely that there is a medieval occupation layer on the inside of one of the walls. First, however, we have to remove a big stone robber pit that is confusing the centre of the excavation. One thing does now seem increasingly likely: that we are dealing with 30cm or more of medieval dump ontop of the Roman level, which ought to yield some interesting material.

Luke Lavan 09/09/2009

Today was a great day to be an archaeologist. Spirits were high, muscles were working hard and tons of cool stuff was popping up. The crew is starting to work really well together – mattocks and shovels and barrows are all in motion and everything seems orderly. Everyone has the basic skill set they need for the job and speed is naturally increasing. We finished all but one of the 47 test pits and, with the help of our welcome new addition Ana Sanchez, we started to put together a story of the site. We decided to concentrate on cleaning up two areas – the north-west corner between a row of columns and the portico and also in the south, next to our interesting temple/fountain.

 

There is nothing more exciting that simply grabbing a couple of mattocks and digging into some new archaeology. Both crews almost instantly found the mosaic floor. Following it along, we cleared large areas of vegetation and soil, exposing not only more mosaic floor but also mortar foundations, a part of a staircase, bits of painted façade, a nice piece of worked bone and tons and tons of pottery. On the south side, the mosaic floor has been cut by several large postholes. The postholes, along with some dark stains on the mosaic itself, seems to indicate a later medieval building, possibly incorporating the temple/fountain.

 

Jenny Fiddes 06/09/2009

What a day! We have perhaps discovered more today that on any other day so far. In the east portico the diggers joined by Eric Fries of UCLA came down onto a rich fill layer of tiles, ceramics and many other finds – by the bucket load. The surface of the portico seems to have gone, except in one area where the mortar floor has fallen into a drain, as discovered by Dana Kubilus, during the last few minutes of the day. At the opposite end of the same portico, the floor seems to have been discovered, above a similar fill layer, though it is cut through with a pit of some kind. Green marble has been found again along the same portico.

The Medieval walls are getting more interesting.

In the western portico, the ‘medieval’ archaeology of rubble walls is advancing – we have planned and contexted it – but things are getting more complex. The rubble walls are better built than we thought in lower courses, and there are some deposits which lap up against them which may be occupation layers of some kind. We hope our sieves will be ready tomorrow for stratigraphic excavation. Kelly Madigan, site supervisor, normally of LP Archaeology (London), is looking forward to getting stuck in, especially now that she has set up a camping stove to make Earl Grey tea on site.

Kelly ensures that her crew is fully caffeinated during the breaks.

The palaestra of the baths is beginning to make the forum people a bit jealous. Test pits are now complete, revealing what looks like late rubbish near the portico, full of bone and ceramics, thanks to the work of Chris Collard.

Chris was estatic to find a possible midden.

The ‘temple’ excavated by Michael Mulryan and Paolo Maranzana has produced a bit of decorated roof tile typical for temples, as well as the trace of where the cult statue seems to have stood. However, it looks like the structure was originally some kind of fountain and only became a temple in a late Roman phase when it was transformed with re-used building material. More soon!

An amazing discovery by Dr. Michael Mulryan.

Luke Lavan 06/09/2009

The focus for team one today was on the eastern end of our forum. One of the test pits in the south eastern end has been extended into a trench. In addition, the entire north eastern area has been cleared of vegetation in preparation for excavation. Just the devegetation alone has already yielded a massive amount of finds which by lunch break already filled three buckets and two crates, including some beautiful green marble, broken glass bits, and copious amounts of ceramic sherds. We also have uncovered several possible paving slabs. Our newest addition from UCLA, Eric Fries, has been helping in this endeavour as we seek to convert him from a focus on South American Archaeology to Roman Archaeology.

Bucket loads of new finds are being discovered in the eastern end of the forum.

The palaestra has continued to be abuzz with activity. Lunch break has turned the open space into a small cricket field, thanks to Kelly Madigan’s philanthropic donation of a foam quick cricket set. The American students are somewhat puzzled by this strange sport, but they have tried their hand at it and may get better with time. During work hours many more test pits have been dug, resulting in more coins being found. Michael Mulryan’s work on what seems like a temple is exciting and is sure to yield interesting results soon.

A possible temple in the middle of the palaestra is being explored.

Dana Kubilus 05/09/2009

Team two is excited to begin work in the new area!

Test pits now cover the palaestra of the forum baths. Our excavations in this area started today amidst a burst of enthusiasm. This triangular plaza is thought to have been the exercise yard of the baths, though it was converted into a public square in the late period when a wall was demolished to connect it to the forum, and statue bases were brought in. The presence of two small temples is a little odd – one seems to be built of re-used materials – perhaps indicating a temple of the early 4th c. – perhaps a sacellum of the imperial cult that is a typical ‘temple’ type of this period which survived even under some Christian emperors. The test pits brought up white mosaic in most area, with some hole perhaps for pits, and also some tool marks relating to the foundation layer. A coin of Maxentius (the emperor beaten by Constantine) was discovered by Warren de Souza, and we expect more.

A mosaic covers much of the palaestra's floor.

Not only is the palaestra beautiful, but the earth is soft. A downpour at 8am this morning marks, we hope, a change in the weather. It makes everything much easier, and the temperature has come down about five degrees so far, though not as much as we would like. It is good to see some brown earth and to get rid of the dust, though the downpour came too quick for us to uncover our existing excavated areas and they are dry. Hopefully the downpour will not dampen spirits, though our campsite is now starting too look a bit like a holiday centre in Wales.

Luke Lavan 04/09/2009

Today we enjoyed a visit from Prof. Tom Wake, a ‘zooarchaeologist’ – or to you and me a ‘bone person’. He had just flown in – as Americans do – on a 24 hour flight from Botswana, where he had been studying hunter-gatherers. Tom was somewhat overwhelmed by the scale of Ostia, with its several square kilometres of Roman ruins. But he soon settled down to sifting through our finds assemblages for bones and shells of all kinds. His star finds were a bit of turtle shell on which a ‘peace sign’ is visible in the natural markings, and also a possible bit of human bone from the inner ear, which came from topsoil above our medieval layer.

Our visiting UCLA professor identified a bone as being possibly human.

Our diggers are again finding the heat difficult, but thankfully the nature of the work is starting to change. There is now a lot of drawing to do, as the whole western portico is finished off. We have also expanded a trench into the ‘road’ area in order to understand the earliest foundations in the area, which predate our forum. Here a great job has been done by Dana Kubilus and Anna Reihle scraping moss out of the mortar and uprooting plants. When the drawing is finished sondages will begin in selected parts of the site. We expect to find at least one phase of decorated plaster in the portico and perhaps some marble decoration, as some areas are producing green marble fragments.

A group shot including Tom Wake, the Heroic Statue, and some very strange italian soda called 'Chinotto'.

Luke Lavan 03/09/2009