Aquileia, major discoveries: possibly identified large commercial complex, would be unique

Important archaeological discoveries are coming from the city of Aquileia, where experts from the Department of Cultures and Civilizations of theUniversity of Verona have just finished an excavation, under the direction of Patrizia Basso in collaboration with Diana Dobreva, and in agreement with the Superintendence of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape of Friuli Venezia Giulia, under a ministerial concession, and with the support of the Aquileia Foundation , which has been guaranteeing scientific and financial collaboration in the excavations of the ancient city since 2018. The area involved is the former Pasqualis Fund, located at the southeastern end of Aquileia. The research lasted two months and also availed itself of the collaboration of some 20 students, doctoral students and young PhDs from the University of Verona: the investigations focused on three vast areas and led to interesting results that, the University of Veneto points out, will have to be verified as the research continues.

A fourth pavement, in addition to the three already known from excavations in the 1950s and recent investigations by the University of Verona, emerged during the work, located to the east of the others and at a higher elevation, because it probably conformed to the natural course of the ground. This discovery, the university explains, points toward the hypothesis of a large commercial complex, consisting of at least four parallel buildings side by side, each characterized by an uncovered area surrounded by arcades and stores: this would be a truly extraordinary marketplace in terms of monumentality and breadth, unique in the Empire, at least in the current state of knowledge, and thus such as to attest with particular evidence to Aquileia’s vitality as a center of trade and commerce in Late Antiquity.

New discoveries in

New discoveries in

The four buildings must have been composed in a modular fashion, that is, arranged two by two, leaving an intermediate space between them, where in this year’s excavation a cobblestone road was identified, which from the decumanus located north of the marketplace and thus from the area of the basilica led to the large commercial center: the road allowed the passage of the many patrons who daily populated these spaces and of wagons for the transport of goods, as also confirmed by the traces identified on its floor. As also demonstrated in the course of the excavations conducted in recent years, the market was also accessed from the river, through a series of open entrances on the outermost of the two urban boundary walls brought to light to the south of the squares themselves and related to ramps for transporting goods.

Finally, also reported among this year’s discoveries is the finding along a perimeter wall of one of the buildings of a dozen or so amphorae placed upright, sawn off at shoulder height and thus missing their necks and rims. Their function will have to be clarified with the continuation of the work, but they already appear to refer to a phase prior to the creation of the market, when there was a river quay in the area and other structures still only partially identified, because they are largely covered by the squares. Of this quay in the 2023 campaign, a water staircase consisting of 4 sandstone steps was unearthed that was functional precisely for descending to the river.

Finally, an integral part of the fieldwork was also the work carried out in the archives of the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia with the possibility of re-examining the graphic, photographic and manuscript documentation left by the archaeologists who investigated the area earlier. Some of their insights were confirmed by the excavations of the University of Verona, while others required careful reading of archival data. The results of this research have found their way into a soon-to-be-released first volume chronicling the vicissitudes of more than a century of archaeological discoveries in the area.

During the months of work, the excavation has always remained open to the public, which has been involved in daily guided tours by Veronese students. Among the activities to communicate and tell about the data collected were also two open days held on June 17 and September 23, by the Aquileia Foundation, in collaboration with the Soprintendenza Archeologia, belle arti e paesaggio del Friuli Venezia Giulia, the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia, and other entities working to enhance the city.

Aquileia, major discoveries: possibly identified large commercial complex, would be unique

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