NOVITÀ DALL’AREA URBANA DI VEIO. RECENTI INDAGINI NEL DISTRETTO MERIDIONALE

Abstract

The paper aims to present the various activities carried out at the Etruscan city of Veii by the équipe of
Etruscology and Archaeology of pre-Roman Italy of the Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità of the Sapienza
University of Rome. In particular, it provides an updated picture of the 2018-2019 research campaigns.
In total, four sectors were investigated during these campaigns (the so-called Edificio Lanciani, and sectors
19, 25, and 26).
In the Edificio Lanciani two rooms (E-Q) related to the large villa (4000 mq) built in the late Republican
period were excavated. The most relevant outcome of this work can be considered the discovery of walls
with a different orientation, suggesting the presence of pre-existing buildings which were part of a different
settlement fabric.
In sector 19 part of the urban water supply system was brought to light. In particular, a large tank in which a
tripartite structure in tufa blocks was built in the Middle Republican period, and a cuniculus equipped with
an inspection pit were partially investigated.
In the closely interconnected sectors 25 and 26, the excavation focused, on the one hand on the large (about
4 m wide) EW road that connects the edge of the plateau with the main arterial road that crosses it, and on
the other hand on the investigation of a massive group of thick layers, which indirectly testifies to the presence
of an extremely consistent pottery production (especially bucchero and Etruscan Corinthian wares).
In sector 26 the recovered sherds of architectural terracotta fortify the hypothesis of the presence in the area
since at least the Archaic period of a sacred context, whose location must however still be identified, while
in sector 25 the several thousand misfired bucchero sherds, an extremely interesting test for a decoration
in the form of a gorgoneion, alongside an impressive quantity of kiln tools, fully confirm the presence of a
production area at Piano di Comunità at least from the late 7th c. BC.
The final part of the paper describes the didactic activity and the past and future dissemination paths related
to the archaeological mission, and in particular an exhibition at the Museum of Etruscan and Italic Antiquities
of the Sapienza University of Rome and the project Veio: lost city. Conservazione, valorizzazione e
fruizione del sito archeologico etrusco in collaboration with the Department of Architecture and Project.