CASTELPORZIANO (VICUS AUGUSTANUS, TIBER DELTA): IMPORTS VERSUS METROPOLITAN WARES

John W. Hayes

The area of the Vicus Augustanus, the market servicing from the 20's BC the string of villae maritimae to the SE of Ostia, was extensively dug a century ago. It now lies within the Castelporziano presidential estate. The renewed excavations there, under A. Claridge (Oxford), in collaboration with G. Lauro (Quirinale), have investigated the phasing of the site and probed its earlier levels, providing pottery sequences (Augustan to earlier 3rd century) that were not previously available there. These can serve as a control on the massive corpora from Rome and, especially, Ostia, filling in certain gaps in the published sequences.

Deposits from landfill sites along the main coastal road, the Via Severiana, indicate Claudian and Trajanic road-building phases (the Severan phase and associated fills are elusive). These deposits, and those from other parts of the vicus, show a fairly equal balance between metropolitan/Tiber Valley and longer-distance imported wares of all categories: Pisa products vie with sigillata wares from the Rome orbit, Tiber Valley jars with Spanish and other amphorae, Tyrhennian, Tunisian (and some Asia Minor) cooking wares with Rome/Tiber Valley urcei/caccabi. The common local plain ware jug series, apparently partly mould-formed, is well represented. Campanian products are notably scarce. A few outsiders (e.g. from Egypt) occur. Statistically, these finds may provide a more balanced overall picture than those from warehouse areas (as at Ostia) or on the Monte Testaccio.

Some later 4th century deposits (where not removed by the earlier excavators) have more the character of warehouse dumps. Amphorae, overwhelmingly from N. Africa and Sicily/Calabria, predominate, along with quantities of African fine and cooking wares. Local products are scarce. The final phase ends around AD 380-400.

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